Orbs of Emerald
by Ugly Kitten
Summary: My 1st story! Jeminie Kinde was just another girl in this war-torn world. Her family was destroyed by the Gundams and now they want HER help! Chap. 2 is up! And no, it's not a Mary Sue.
1. Default Chapter

My first fan fiction! I have worked long and hard on the plotline for this, so please don't take anything. A full summary is here: Jeminie Kinde was just your average girl in the war-torn world of Gundams, Mobile Dolls, and the OZ corporation. Although these things, for the most part, have been destroyed, there is still an evil afoot. What is it about the X Force that makes it so powerful? Why have they assassinated Releena Peacecraft? What does this have to do with Jem and her dead twin brother, Jonathon?

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of its respective characters and plot.

Please read this, it's actually quite good despite it's angsty beginning. And I know a lot of people don't like those things called "Mary Sues", but this is not your typical Mary Sue where everybody loves her except the enemy type of thing. It is not your typical new character thing, and you really don't know what to expect.

__

Orbs of Emerald

Chapter 1: Lost a Losing Battle.

***

Oh...Jonathon! Jon! We had been together...we had been one for such a long time. Why did you have to leave me, brother? We were born, only minutes apart. My little twin brother. Jon, why did you have to go? Why did you have to...die? I said to wait for me, Jon. I told you not to go to the colonies.

"But did you listen to your sister?" I asked his coffin softly, grimly, angrily, bitterly. "Did you listen to me, Jonathon!? NO!" Sinking to my knees, I cried. And I cried into my hands. Never had I felt so alone. Never in all my life.

Fifteen years old...Jon, why did you have to die? You were only fifteen, brother! As was I! Why did you have to leave me, Jonathon? You were my brother, my only blood. My only support. No friends for Jeminie. No friends for me. Nothing left for Jem, save a house burned to the ground, mere ashes.

"Be the phoenix," I laughed bitterly at Jon's old saying. "Rise from the ashes into a rose, for you are Jem." I grunted as I kicked his casket angrily. He was one in the thousands of young men who had been recruited by military to fight the colonists. One of thousands who'd been killed in a massacre.

"Jon..." I sobbed again. "Jonathon, why did you have to go?! You didn't have to, Jon, you weren't old enough, you didn't have to go! Jon, no!"

"You lost a loved one too, I see," said a young man beside me. I growled at him bitterly.

"Leave me alone, I don't know you."

"I can't do that," he shook his head softly and turned to me.

"Just leave me alone," I muttered and stalked off rapidly. The boy grabbed my arm tightly in his and kept me there. "Let me go." My eyes were murderous as I glared at him from beneath dusty-blond bangs. It swung, shoulder length, around me as I shook my head then glared at him straight in the eye.

"You have beautiful green eyes," he said, loosening his grip on my arm but not releasing me. "What is your name?" 

"I don't have to tell you anything!" I raged and yanked my arm from his grasp. "Leave me alone, you conceited jerk!" I was seething inside now. No one treated Jeminie Kinde like this! Nobody!

"You have it all wrong, miss," he said, chuckling at my anger. "I want to ask your help. My name is Duo Maxwell. I used to pilot a Gundam called Death Sythe, way back when."

"Death Sythe?" I asked, fuming. "You're that crazy maniac?! The one who destroyed what little life I had left when the colonies proposed war!"

"From that point of view, I suppose so," he said, laughing. His long brown hair waved near his thigh as he smirked at me now. "But we were trying to find peace, miss, not more war."

"Well, I suppose you're _method_ was what was the problem, then," I smiled, though it lacked all warmth a smile should have. It was a cold, bitter smile, showing only the ironic nature that I had to endure now. "Now will you please leave me in peace, I have nothing left because of you and your little toy and this stupid war, and now that it's over, I'm going to start over and be whatever I wanna be."

"If you can find anything to be," Maxwell jested. "Most people don't hire girls who don't have an education."  
"Hey!" I protested, my face alit in deep crimson. "Just who do you think you are, I can find a job if I want to!"

"Not with the way things are right now," he shrugged pathetically.  
"Oh, and I suppose _you_, an ex-soldier, will be able to find a decent job in a peaceful place?" I asked, my tone mocking.

"This _place_ isn't as peaceful as it seems," he muttered under his breath quietly toward me. I noticed that he kept his tone very hushed and his eyes sort of darted around. "Look, I need help, girl, and I think you're perfect for the job. How about it?"

"I think not," I said offhandedly. "Even if I was desperate, I wouldn't take a job from such a conceited jerk such as yourself."  
"Hey, I'm not conceited," he protested good-naturedly. "I'm just asking if you'd like a job, miss."  
"Name's not 'miss'," I jested with a smirk. "It's Jeminie, but most people call me Jem."  
"Well, I'm very glad to meet you, Jem," he bowed lightly. He looked at the casket which contained what little remained of my twin and bowed to it as well. "And I apologize for your loss. I'm certain I would be just as angry as you are if I had been interrupted from mourning a loved one."

"Hn," I grunted. "Jon doesn't need your sympathy. He died in place of my father, who died anyway of a heart attack, so his sacrifice was in vain." A scowl played on my lips as I stared down at my brother's casket again.

"Please, help me, Jem," Maxwell said, his voice gentle and pathetic. Something in it made me stop short. What was it? What was it about him that made me listen to him, regardless of the fact that he was a stranger, mostly, and that he had _killed_ several people I loved. Or should I say, _had_ loved. 

"What _exactly_ do you need help with?" I asked, turning around and facing him again. If he could do what he said he could, then I'd listen, but only if he could justify his remarks.

"My friend Heero just lost a very good friend of his, someone I think he was close to," he said, ignoring my question. He kept glancing about nervously. "Releena Peacecraft."

"You mean the one who was assassinated a few days ago?" I asked, surprised. Everyone had been shocked by the sudden assassination of Peacecraft, including myself, but everyone simply thought it was the work of radicals. A small group that would be easily destroyed.

"Yeah," he groaned and put his fingers to his temples, rubbing them like an old dog might. "It's a big mess. There's a big huge problem with the assassination. The five of us think that there are more than just a small group of these radicals."  
"And what evidence do you have that could suggest that?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest indignantly.  
"You don't miss a beat, do you?" he inquired slyly. "Anyway, we received a private message to our home on one of the colonies just yesterday. It said 'We are many and we are strong, the X Force will conquer all. The largest obstacle has been slewed and time is of the essence. You will never defeat us, Gundams, so don't even try.' The others sent me down to find someone I thought could help us out."  
"And you think that someone is me?" I asked, incredulous. "You're nuts! I'd rather stab myself right now than try and stop some ghost!"

***

"I can't believe I let him talk me into trying to stop the stupid ghost," I mumbled under my breath on the shuttle Maxwell had brought me, or rather, _dragged_ me, to once he'd convinced me to come with him.

"I'm pretty persuasive, aren't I?" he asked, sounding once again like a conceited jerk.  
"And by the one type of boy I hate," I growled so he could hear.  
"Awe, now that's not fair, Jem!" he protested.  
"Well, this dang world ain't fair anyways, so what're you whining about?" I scowled at him and watched the Earth disappear beneath us, looking like a ripe little blueberry.

"Heh...I guess that's true," he smirked and shrugged, nearly at the same moment. Stupid boy totally irked me. I slid down the seat again, wallowing in my own self-pity. Why did he have to go? Why did Jon have to leave me?

**FLASH**

"What do you mean, you offered your help to the cause?!" I yelled at my twin. "Jonathon, you idiot!!" How could he do this to me, he hadn't even _asked_ me if he could go! He was supposed to talk to me about everything! He was my brother, why did he decide all of the sudden to just throw his life away?

"Sis, listen to me," Jon said gently. "I may not come back. I want you to know that I will do my best to win this battle so freedom and peace will be ours."  
"Jonathon, you imbecile, you stupid little brat, what were you thinking?!" I barked at my twin, hopping mad. How dare he do something so stupid?! "Do you realize whatsoever that you've signed your own grave, you nitwit?! Jonathon, talk to that stupid recruiter and take your signature back, change it somehow and say that someone posed as you, because you don't want to go and fight this war. This isn't our battle, Jon!"

"Jeminie, you listen here and you listen good," Jon said firmly. "I am going to fight and you cannot stop me. You are my twin, my blood, and my sister, but I have to leave you. I have to fight, Jem. This is my battle and my fate. But yours is different from mine. I have to go, you have to stay. I won't be coming back, Jem. I know it in my heart. Goodbye, sis."  
"Jon...please," I cried to him, hugging his broad shoulders tightly in my grip. "Don't go. I don't want you to die, Jon."  
"I know. And it will be painful, for both of us," he smiled at me. "But I want you to promise that we'll always be friends, even after I am gone. I love you, my sister."  
"Jon..." I whispered.

"Now go to the shelter and stay there, Jem. You are my prized jewel, you won't die, not until you are old and wrinkled and have had at least one kid," he smirked at me, his old devilish one. "You pass on the bloodline of the Kinde and be happy for the rest of your life. Mine is already gone. Bye, sis!" He waved and ran. I dashed as fast as my legs could carry me. But he'd always been just a little faster. Just a little stronger. Just a little better, physically. I sighed and stopped.  
"You behave yourself, Jonathon Kinde!" I called after him. "I know you!"  
"Of course, Jeminie! I will see you in heaven, you beautiful angel, you!" he called back and was gone. I walked slowly back to the underground shelter that he had built for us and crawled inside. Once there, I curled into a feeble ball on the cold, hard concrete floor and sobbed quietly. 

Then and there I decided that I'd never love anyone again. I would not marry and have kids, like Jonathon had told me to, and I would do it just to spite him when I got to heaven. Grunting to myself as the tears continued to fall, I fell asleep only when I had cried my eyes out completely.

**FLASH**

"I will see you in heaven, you beautiful angel, you," I whispered the last words my brother had said to me. He'd called me an angel...a beautiful angel, no less. All my life, I'd wanted to be called an angel, just once, just one time, to hear someone call me an angel, a pure creature with breath-taking white wings. And he'd fulfilled my dream, but in the worst way possible. The last words he breathed to me before his untimely death.

"That what he said to you?" Maxwell inquired, breaking me painfully from my thoughts. "Your boyfriend, right?"  
"B-boyfriend?" I sputtered, and would have fallen out of my seat in shock had I not been strapped to it. "Jon was my brother!"  
"Oh," he laughed nervously. "Sorry, about that. Heh, I guess I can be pretty dense sometimes." He rubbed the back of his head, laughing. For a split second, I saw...I saw Jon in him. The careless way he talked about death, the joking way he said he was air-headed, the shiny brown hair, slightly darker than mine...

I gave myself a mental punch in the face. What the hell was I thinking, this guy was nothing _like_ Jon at all! Not only that, but he was an absolute jerk!

"Shut up, Maxwell," I growled again, turning back to the window, where I could see that we were approaching a small colony, probably a single-family one. I grit my teeth in anger and my eyebrows caved downward in a bitter frown. Stupid colonies...they were the whole reason for this darned war. If Earth hadn't made these ridiculous places of machinery and organic cities in space, this war would've never happened and Jon and I would be living our lives on Earth to the fullest, not living in fear of getting killed by the Gundams or even our own military.

"You've got to understand, Jem, these colonies were not the cause of the war," Maxwell revealed quietly. "It's the greed that all humanity has bred into themselves." It was as if he'd read my mind. I thought this over and nodded, my facial features loosening.

But only just a little.

"Unidentified transport, reveal yourself or be killed," said a cold, cruel, indifferent voice on the radio. He sounded like I felt. "You have five seconds."  
"Wu-man, how's everything hanging?" Maxwell cried into the radio happily. "I found someone, guys!"

"Maxwell, shut up before I kill you," said another voice. This one, too, was cold and indifferent, but I could sense just a little bit of underlying mourning behind that voice.

"Heero, I didn't know you were in the radio tower!" Maxwell greeted yet another of his "friends". "Long time no see, bud! Hey, where do I land, guys?"

"Your normal place, idiot," the one Maxwell had called "Wu-man" answered dejectedly.

"Are all your acquaintances like that?" I inquired as he hung the radio on the hook once again. "If so, I do not want to meet any of your friends."  
"They _are_ my friends," Maxwell answered goofily, a crazed grin on his face. "They're a lot better in person, too!" He landed and I heard the hatch opening.

"Just kill me now," I muttered to myself, sinking into the seat with a hand over my eyes.

"That can be arranged," said another voice, and I opened my eyes to have a gun barrel pointed between them. I grit my teeth and prepared to be killed. At least this way, Jon wouldn't scold me for killing myself. I stared at this new boy, studying him so I could describe my killer to Jonathon.

I could see the boy's hesitation but at the same time his seriousness of the situation. He had wild brown hair, a little darker than Maxwell's, and strange ice-cold blue eyes. I noticed that he was wearing tight black pants and a loose green muscle shirt that showed his defined muscles effectively.

"Go on ahead and do it," I growled at him angrily. "I don't have anything else to live for."

"Heero!" called another, much kinder-sounding voice, but all the same angry. "Leave her alone, that's no way to treat our guest."

"If you weren't of use to us, I would kill you right now," the boy the others had referred to as Heero said to me, his cold eyes boring into mine contemptuously. The other boy, a blond with pretty blue eyes, took the gun away from my forehead forcefully.   
"If you don't stop scaring women like that, Yuy," another boy, with black hair pulled into a tight ponytail and black eyes, said, "You won't ever find a new girl."  
"I don't want a girl, period," Heero said indifferently. "And I never had a girl in the first place." I could beg the difference from the look upon his face, though. But I didn't press it.

"If these are your friends, Maxwell, I'd love to meet your enemies," I smirked sarcastically.

"I'm afraid you already have, miss," laughed the blond. Another young man, seemingly the silent one in the group, entered seconds later. He too had brown hair, but it was brushed neatly to cover his right eye.

"For the last time," I growled, extremely annoyed. "My name is Jem, not miss!"

"I'm terribly sorry," the blond said, chuckling lightly. "Jem, was it?"

"Yeah," I nodded, my indifferent attitude setting in. "Now what in this crazy universe did Maxwell drag me all the way up here for?"

"Why don't we discuss that over lunch?" Maxwell said, grinning still like a maniac. While Duo was preparing a lunch of sandwiches, the blond introduced himself and the others. I found out that the blond was named Quatre Winner, and was actually a lot nicer than the other three Gundam pilots. Killing people does that to you, I suppose. Father used to tell me about that when he was still alive.

I found out that the mostly-silent brown-haired boy was called Trowa Barton. I also found out later that he had stolen the name because he had lost his memory several times over. The young black-haired man, who seemed intent on killing Maxwell every once in a while (and who wouldn't?) was called Wufei Chang. Maxwell's nickname for him was Wu-man, but I don't think he liked the name very much.

The last one in the five was the trigger-happy one who'd had his gun between my eyes when Maxwell had landed the ship I'd come in. His name was Heero Yuy. I found out later that he had actually been hit pretty hard by Releena's assassination, despite all of his denials he made almost constantly.

"What exactly did you guys drag me up here for?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow. "I mean, like you really need the help of a person on the edge of killing herself anyway."

"We need to infiltrate the X Force's base without being noticed," Quatre said, setting the plate of sandwiches in the middle of the wooden table. I waited until all five of the boys had seated themselves, then took the last chair. Just my luck, Maxwell was to my right and Heero was to my left. Trigger-happy and Just-plain-happy. How ironic can one setting be?

"Lemme guess," I said, smiling sweetly and looking from one to the other to the next as I spoke, about every two words. "You guys wanted to find a nice, pretty girl to sneak in and attempt to get herself into a position of power in the X Force."  
Quatre and Maxwell seemed overly surprised by my jest, but Wufei seemed just irritated I had suggested such a thing. Heero merely blinked and Trowa...well, Trowa remained himself, not at all reacting in any way. Jeez, Maxwell had some weird friends, if he could even call them that.

"Don't be stupid," Wufei said, looking amused, but no where near smiling, let alone laughing. "We would never send a weak girl inside enemy territory."  
"What did you say?!" I shouted, my tone warning. How dare he! Standing up as my throat growled, my hands lashed out at thin air as I raged at him. "You've no idea who you're messin' with, you Gundam freaks! You five are the reason my brother is dead, the reason this stupid war was dragged out, the reason for every thing that's ever happened to my family, and you dare insult me for my simple _GENDER_?!" My breaths came out ragged and uneven as I stared at the Chinese boy, a wild look clear in my eyes. "I may be a girl, but there is nothing short of being a fighter, no matter what you may be!!!" I sat down in the chair, my adrenalin pumping and my heart racing. My face set in a scowl as I looked at them again.

"Now what the _hell_ did you five drag my carcass up here for?" My face felt like it was steaming, it was so red hot. In short, I was peeved off, and nothing got in my way when _this_ little girl got mad.

"Well, I think that answers our question," Quatre said, his mouth twisted in surprise and his eyes wide.

"You said it," Maxwell agreed, absolutely shocked. I knew he was, because his mouth had been hanging on a hinge a few seconds earlier, and his eyes were _still_ attempting to leave their sockets. Or were they trying to return to them instead?

"What question?" I growled under my breath.

"Don't worry about it," Maxwell said.   
"What'd you bring me up here for, and tell me straight-up this time," I scowled even deeper as Quatre blushed and turned away, while Maxwell simply stared at the ceiling. Wufei and Heero looked thoroughly amused, however. Trowa had remained himself the whole time, as though he was oblivious to every sound we made.

"Well?!"

"Umm....well....we....uh...." Maxwell and Quatre's speech overlapped, but I heard right.

"Lemme take another stab at it," I said, smirking as I leaned over to rest my elbows on the table, then smiling sweetly as my chin rested on the back of my joined fingers. "You want me to be your little housemaid and keep this place all nice and clean for you when you get back, am I right there?"

Two boys visibly gulped and nodded.

"Maxwell!" I shouted, then spoke through my teeth haltingly, making him jump at nearly every word I said. "You get back on that space craft and you fly me home right this instant, you pipsqueak!"

"Uh....ya see...we can't really....what I'm trying to say...." Quatre stuttered out.  
"You can't go home," Heero interrupted, looking highly amused at this turn of events.

"What?!" I yelled, then slammed my palms onto the table. "I sure as hell am going home, because I sure as anything am **_NOT_** going to play _housemaid _to five _idiots_ who cost my brother his life and nearly cost me my _own_!" My chest heaved for air as I glared at each of them in turn. Wufei and Trowa stared blankly back at me, Maxwell and Quatre apologetically, and Heero...he seemed to just think the whole thing was a big joke, or something, because he just smirked right back at me.

"You try to escape, girl," he said, his voice a monotone, but I could tell he was taunting me. "I get to kill you."  
"Go on ahead, I don't care!" I yelled at him. "Take out the freaking gun and shoot me! Go ahead and do it, right now, Mister! At least then I don't have to be the _only _Kinde left in the whole darned universe!"

True to his word, Heero removed his gun from his pocket (though I didn't really see how, nor did I really care) and pointed the gun toward my chest, backing up about six feet away. I clenched my teeth and stood firm. At least now I had gotten not only a good visual of the kid for my brother, but I could also tell Jon what he was like. Which was cold, ruthless, and unforgiving, as he found pleasure in pointing his gun at nearly everything that moved.

"Heero, put the gun away, she hasn't done anything to you!" Quatre pleaded with the brown-haired boy.  
"Let him do it, Winner," Wufei said. "It will be one less aspect we have to worry about."

"Go on ahead, unless you're too scared," I taunted him boldly, the waiting making me anxious. He seemed to hesitate one second, then he fired. And all went blank.

***

Did he already kill her? Think again. But things will start heating up and I do mean in every aspect. Jem may or may not get tied to Heero, you'll just have to wait and see. Come on, come back for chapter two, it'll come really soon. The plot will thicken.

But for now? Jeminie Yuy is signing off. Peace out! ~.^V


	2. Dream-Crossed Realities

Yay! Someone reviewed my last chapter! But only one. I guess I shouldn't have expected much. Sarah often tells me that no one really reviews her stories, either. Please, if you've read this story, tell me what you think. I've worked long and hard to come up with an original plot, although it doesn't quite seem that way just yet. Thank you, Anonymous Reader, for reviewing this story and giving me the strength I need to carry on. 

Sarah let my borrow her one character, Dirken, for this story, with a few twists. He doesn't show up until later, but he's there.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of its respective characters.

__

Orbs of Emerald

Chapter 2: Dream-Crossed Realities.

***

"Jonathon, what are you doing?" I asked my brother carefully, so as not to hurt his brittle feelings. "That doesn't look like the one in the book." We were making kites to fly out in the field. It was one of the few things we could do outside because of the base that was so near to us. We passed our time any way we could, be it reading, writing, running, anything we could do to stay out of the range of boredom and fear.

"I know," he answered. "I'm trying something different. You know, you don't have to always go by the book, Jem. It's fun to just be free to do whatever you want to."  
"Yeah, I know, but..."  
"Come on. Let's see which of ours can fly the highest," he grinned. "Race ya to the field!"  
"You're on!" I screamed to both offers, then dashed off toward the field. He ran after me, yelling something about me getting a head start.

"Jem! Jon! Come back, quickly! The Gundams are attacking!" Dad yelled at us.

"Okay, we're coming!" I called back, stopping immediately in my tracks. Jonathon pulled ahead, unaware of the danger. "Come back, Jon, the Gundams...the Gundams are here! They're attacking the base!" He stopped and looked back at me, his eyes wide. Then he did something I would never have expected out of my normally-quiet brother.   
"Really? Cool! I wanna see 'em!" Jon ran toward the defending Mobil Dolls rather than heading toward the shelter dad had dug. "Come on, Jeminie! Let's go see them!"

"Jonathon!" I called after him, then made a mad dash to catch up with him, still holding my kite in my left hand. I had worked so hard on it, I didn't want to lose it by dropping it. "Jon, it's not safe!"  
"No where's safe," he answered as I caught up. "Might as well be right up in the action, right?"  
"Wrong, let's go to the shelter," I tugged his arm, but our equal strengths were too balanced. I gave up and let him have his fun, waiting impatiently for him to come to his senses and come back to the shelter with me. He peeked around the corner of the building, then gestured for me to look too. Curiosity took the best of me and I stole a glance around the corner in time to see the huge robot-like thing destroy another military barracks. This is what we got for living so close to the base.

"Come _on_, Jonathon, it isn't safe here," I tugged his arm again. "It's a little safer in the shelter, let's go, right now!"

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," he relented and I dragged him back to the shelter. But I saw a new sort of light in his eyes, a light that I didn't trust. And I didn't like things that I couldn't trust. Just as we reached the shelter, I climbed inside, but I heard a round of fire outside before Jon was completely inside. He held his whole weight on one hand as he climbed down the ladder, then suddenly screamed in violent pain, dropping nearly on top of me.  
"My hand, my hand!" he cried, and when we finally got him in light, we (my dad and I) saw that he had a major burn on it. 

"Stupid Gundams," I murmured. "Why must they do this to our city?" I gathered the first-aid kit my father had placed down here and placed it in front of my father and brother.  
"It's because of that stupid base," Dad muttered. "We're moving as soon as I'm sure it's safe. No more bases." I nodded and we began to treat Jonathon's hand.

The vision melted from view then, as though a person had run a watercolor through a washer. Another scene began to play out before me, another from the past, another painful one.

"He-he joined the br-brigade, Daddy," I whispered softly to my father. His blue eyes went wide. I had always been told before that my eyes were just like my father's: green as spring grass, bright, and innocently wide. But now, the brightness in his dimmed and he pulled me close.

"If he...if he comes back, Jem...tell him...tell him..." I never found out what he wanted me to tell Jon, for he passed out right then. I called 9-1-1 quickly and an ambulance raced to the scene. 

"He'll be all right, miss," said one of the paramedics as they loaded him like cargo into the back of the truck.

He was wrong. The moment we reached the hospital, John Irving Kinde was pronounced dead. And his daughter was left all alone in the world.

The scene melted again.

I sat at home, reading a book absent-mindedly. I wasn't truly reading it, not like I used to. I missed my father, missed my twin, and I missed my imagination. It wouldn't work unless there was someone there, someone who cared. Nobody cared about Jeminie Renai Kinde, nobody but her twin brother, who was off fighting a losing battle. 

The phone rang and I answered it. I wish forever now that I hadn't answered that phone.  
"Hello, is this Miss Jeminie Kinde?" asked a calm, cruel voice.

"Yes, it is," I nodded as I spoke, though I knew the man on the other end could not see it. "Who is this?"

"My name is irrelevant. But I must inform you, the only remaining family member to Jonathon Douglous Kinde, that he has perished bravely in the great battle against Oz. That is all. Good day to you." Then he'd hung up.

I dropped the phone. Perished? Jonathon had...perished?!

I found out later that he hadn't "perished bravely", as the officer had told me. He had been led there blindly by his "superiors" and straight into a trap. It, as far as I knew, had been a massacre. Not one soldier survived that day. Not one.

Just then, as the fact that my twin brother, the only person who cared about me, had died, the sirens went off. The booming voices warned of the Mobile Dolls attacking. I dove, still numb, into the cellar. 

When the emergency was over, I crawled out of an ashes-and-rubble-covered door. The last remaining bit of my past had been destroyed. What little remained was what had been in the basement. A load of laundry, all mine. My locket, the one my father had made for me, filled with the family picture taken the day before our mother had died by the hands of more Mobile Dolls. I was thirteen in that picture. I was happy.

But no more.

There were other items, for certain, that I'd plucked from the debris. One was the twin stuffed kitties that my brother and I had been given when we were little. Another was a leather satchel that my brother had used to go to school, empty. I'd stuffed everything that I had found into the satchel, and it was now all that I owned.

The vision swirled again, but when it came into focus, it came slowly. Achingly slow, like a caterpillar compared to a jaguar as opposed to this picture to the last ones. My eyes were not open, I found at last, then groaned inwardly as I realized that I had been dreaming about my past. I wondered fleetingly where I'd had the misfortune of passing out, but shrugged it off until I realized that I wasn't lying on the ground or a bench or something.

I was in a bed. With sheets and a thin comforter covering my slightly sweaty body. A shoot of pain shot up my side, making me wince and tighten my grip on the comforter. My eyes closed tighter and then flew open. I attempted to sit up, but failed and fell backwards, giving up, knowing that pain would soon follow after I landed on the pillow.  
However, half way through the collapse, strong arms caught me and gently settled me against the pillow again.  
"You!" I seethed out when I saw my "rescuer". "What happened? Where am I? What the hell is going on, Maxwell?!" The braided boy chuckled and sat down in a seat beside my bed. Upon closer inspection, I saw that he looked extremely tired and that it looked like he had slept in his clothes a few times, too. His hair was a little mottled as well, but I think he'd found a brush and fixed it at one point, without looking in a mirror, though.

"You pushed Yuy too far, that's what happened," answered a voice behind Maxwell. It was the black-haired Chinese boy, Wufei.

"As for the 'where', you're at my house," said another voice and then appeared the blond, Quatre. He seemed sweet enough. Too sweet. This stupid life had made me so suspicious, and I hated the feeling of envy that burned my soul.

"What the hell is this?!" I screeched, but winced as another pang coursed through my body.

"Well, you did ask for it," answered a silky-smooth monotone. It was the trigger-happy boy. Joy. Like I really wanted to see him.

"What the heck's that supposed to mean!?" I shouted, my face burning, nearly scorching itself in the process. I was about ready to throw my hands around the idiots' necks and squeeze the life out of them, but I was sorely outnumbered. "I asked you to kill me, not wound me! And what's all the fuss about if you guys won't let me go _home_?!"

"You brought her here, Maxwell," Wufei smirked. "You deal with her." With that, the boy turned on his heel and walked, or rather, marched out of there. 

"I hate to say it, but Wufei is right," Quatre said quietly, giving me a small bow before walking out. "Please, get better soon, Jem."   
"Come on, Heero," Trowa told the stoic boy. 

"No," he answered. "I will assist Duo. I do not trust this girl."  
"Well, I don't trust you either, if that's any consolation," I shot back, then grimaced in pain once again.  
"It's not really wise to move or yell with a wound like that," Maxwell warned me. "I should know, I've had worse." He grinned and sat down on the end of the bed. Heero took the chair. "You know, it's not a good idea to provoke this guy unless you can handle him."  
"I could've handled him if I wasn't like this," I snarled. "Will you just leave me alone!? Drop me off back on Earth, and leave me be!"

"We cannot do that," Heero droned. "It is against procedure."  
"Procedure? You mean, you guys have to follow _rules_?" I found this extremely hard to believe. These five idiots, who had the power in their grasps to destroy multiple opponents and remain a mystery to the rest of the world, had to follow rules? It was just too uncanny to think about. "As in, you guys don't control what you do?"

"Yeah, basically," Maxwell shrugged. "We do what our superiors want us to. That's why we carry around those laptops. They give us missions through them."  
"Duo!" Heero warned loudly. "That is classified information, you do not have the-"  
"Heero, if she's gotta stay here, why not let her know the ropes? Maybe she can help, who knows?" Maxwell shrugged again.

"Why would that be classified?" I asked, dumbfounded. "What is the problem with that getting out?"  
"The information could be traced then," Maxwell answered. "We've been given a strict moral code that we can't break. If we do, it's bye-bye us." My eyes widened upon a single realization: These boys did not know freedom. They were the slaves of their missions, to their superiors. And they could never escape, for if they did, they would be hunted down and killed, one by one.  
"Fine," I muttered. "I won't try to escape. I'll help you any way I can, with the exception of housework. I'm not that type of girl, regardless of what you five may think."  
"Great!" Maxwell grinned. "Hey, you guys!" He raced out the room, leaving Heero and I alone. I nearly grimaced at the thought of being in one room alone with that walking Perfect Soldier, but did not let my emotion show. I would attempt to be another Perfect Soldier now. My brother tried and failed. It was my destiny to pick up where he had left off.

"Why?" Heero asked, breaking into my thought. I looked at him in shock, surprised and baffled he had even spoken at all.  
"Excuse me?" 

"Why did you agree?" his face was as stony as ever, but his voice had lost some of its monotonous qualities. However, it wasn't true emotion I heard, only confusion.

"Because I discovered just how futile it was," I answered, not speaking the whole truth, but this seemed enough for him, for he left it at that. It was my turn to ask a question. "Why didn't you kill me, like you said?"

He seemed taken aback by my question. He contemplated it in his head, then answered. "I wanted to see how you would react. A test."

This answer left me more baffled than ever before. Why would he want to test me? Why would he want to see my reaction to getting shot in the side and not getting dealt a lethal blow, as he promised. 

"Yuy!" I heard Wufei's voice yell.

Heero walked out the door, leaving me alone to construe everything I had been told and why my memories had jumped back to me in my slumber. However, curiosity got the better of me and I crawled out of the bed, clutching my side to keep any blood in. It then occurred to me something I had not previously thought.

If my wound had been bandaged, who had bandaged me?

This thought fresh on my mind, I crawled carefully, ever so gingerly over the carpeted floor toward the banister, hoping to be able to catch what the guys were saying in the living room. What met my ears did not surprise me.

"We cannot allow a woman to accompany us on such a mission!" Wufei was arguing.

"She's strong, Wu-man, stronger than I've ever seen a girl her age," Maxwell argued back. "She should've been knocked out for at least another week with a wound like that. I'd still be screaming at the top of my lungs, instead she's only wincing when she moves."  
"You have to admit, Wufei, she does possess qualities unlike any woman we've seen previously," Heero's monotone greeted my ears.

"And she's got a good motivation, too," Trowa, the normally-silent one, spoke up. "Not many people could keep from killing us with the things she's gone through because of our battles."  
"Did you hear her?" Quatre asked.

"Huh?!" All four of the others were clueless.

"She was talking in her sleep while I was bandaging her wound," the blond explained. So that's who bandaged me. Good, he didn't seem the perverted type. But what was this about me talking in my sleep? "I think she was having flashbacks or something."  
"What in the world could she have been talking about in her sleep?" Maxwell asked, sounding clueless.

"The first sounded like a one-sided conversation with her brother," Quatre said. "I think they were closer than we've previously assumed. She was talking about a kite, then we attacked. She said something about a base. And her brother's hand being burned."  
"The little boy's hand at Nara," Heero sounded distant. "I remember that. I saw a little boy's hand in the ground when I fired at the base."  
"It might've been him, I dunno," Quatre shrugged. "She didn't mention if it was Nara or not." Little did they know, Heero was right. It had been Nara and it had been my brother. I grit my teeth in anger, trying to repress the urge to scream curses wildly at them. Just hell is allowed, remember, Jem? You're only allowed as far as hell and heck, remember?

"Then it sounded like the scene switched, or something, and she was yelling out that her father was dead. Then it sounded like she had gotten the mandatory telephone call from one of the less-concerned officers who were informing family of deaths and injuries. It sounded like her brother had died all over again, there were tears going down her cheeks and everything."   
"It just proves that she's weak," Wufei said, sounding confident. I nearly countered it, but reduced myself to stewing, a deep scowl on my face. The scowl became confusion, however, when the conversation turned around.

"No, it doesn't," Heero sighed, sounding more human than ever before. "It just proves that she cared about her family a lot." My eyebrows shot up. What did he care? How would he know about caring at all?  
"And we took it from her," Maxwell sighed, sounding so sad it nearly brought me to stop the procession right there.

"Fine," Wufei growled finally. "But we train her first before we invade the X Force's base."  
"Someone's got to find the base first," Quatre pointed out.  
"I'll do it," spoke up Trowa. "I'll start on it now. You guys get to train her." I heard receding footsteps. Realizing they'd probably be heading upstairs sooner or later to inform me, I crawled carefully back into the room, using the conveniently-placed chair to climb back under the covers and catch my breath from the effort. I crossed my arms over my chest and stared out the window, which was right next to the bed. 

It was about fifteen minutes later that I heard footsteps walking up the stairs and into my room.

"Hey, you're still up," said a voice by the door. I turned and saw it was Maxwell, once again. "I brought you something to eat, in case you were hungry." I couldn't help but smile weakly as he handed me the plate of sandwiches and a glass of water.

"Thanks," I said, then returned slightly to looking out at the sky. "Sorry I've been sort of a pain in the neck. Not exactly the sort of person you expected, eh?"

"Not really," he laughed. His face changed to serious so quickly, shock ran down my spine. But I did not let it show. Just like a good little Perfect Soldier. "Quatre told us...about your dreams. You were talking in your sleep while he was bandaging your side."

"Yeah, I know," I confessed, my ears turning plum and my face crimson. "I was listening." He stared blankly then started laughing again. 

"Then I guess you know that we're going to start training you soon, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded, not meeting his eyes as I started eating. "Why'd all you guys stick up for me like that? It's not like I've been very nice to any of you. Especially you, Maxwell." My eyes swiveled once to look at him, then I continued stargazing.  
"You can call me Duo, you know," he said, sitting backwards in the seat. "It wasn't so much as sticking up for you as it was to get Wufei to stop thinking of women as weak."  
"Where does he get his opinion of women anyway?" I asked, looking at him strangely, one sandwich devoured.

"I don't know, probably the same place he got his weird sense of justice and honor, too," Duo exclaimed, twirling his finger by his head, indicating that he did not consider Wufei to be sound of mind. To keep from laughing, I spoke again.

"So, what are you guys going to be training me about, anyway?" I asked, finishing another sandwich.

"Hand-to-hand, different weaponry, Mobile Doll controls, driving, the works, I suppose," Duo answered with a shrug. 

"Might as well have sent me off to boot camp," I mumbled, rolling my eyes sarcastically.  
"Believe me, it's worse than boot camp, especially with Wufei breathing down our necks about it," Duo imitated what I assumed to be Wufei's special technique in hand-to-hand, but taking it 

way out of proportion. It made me laugh, but I stifled it into a small giggle.

"MAXWELL!"  
"Better get going," I taunted him. "Your nightmare wants you." 

"Wufei can yell all he wants, but he can't live without me anyway," Duo whispered. I kept a straight face as he walked out of the room again, carrying the empty plate and glass with him. Staring up at the stars once again, a shooting star gave its light to me. 

"A wish..." I whispered to myself, thinking. Although I wasn't quite as superstitious as my brother, wishing on a star wasn't going to hurt anything anyway. "I wish to find my true destiny and find a way to avenge my brother's death." With the wish sealed with my own words, I slipped into my sleep once again, not wanting to ever awaken again.

***

She doesn't really wanna live, does she? I hope you'll find the time and energy to review this story. Please, send me anything. I accept Anonymous reviews. I accept flames, even! Cuss me out or just ask me to continue the story, anything but the silence!

I know silence is golden, but I like noise and plenty of it! I listen to music while I write. PLEASE tell me what you think. Please? *puppy eyes*

Oh, and don't be fooled by my penname. This may or may not be a Jem/Heero fiction. Hey, I know, give me a vote! Come on, tell me who you'd like to match up with Jeminie! Please? Or maybe you don't want her matched up at all and I don't make this a romance, too. That's possible too, ya know.


	3. Duo's Blunder, Jon's Wonder

I'm not getting that many reviews, but I suppose that's what is to be expected to a newcomer. I have fully decided to make this a Jem/Heero fic now, and also a Rei/Admiral fic, as you'll soon find out in the next chapter. I hope you enjoy this. I also would like to thank all of my reviewers, however few. You're words make me continue and they keep my spirits high. Please, if you have been reading this fic, just give me a few little words. Just the simple phrase of "Nice" or "Please continue" or "Cool" or "Interesting" would suffice and make my week. You can even _flame _it for all I care, but please tell me what you think. Silence is foreboding and unnerving for me, even though I am a loner.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of their affiliates.

__

Orbs of Emerald

Chapter 3: Duo's Blunder, Jon's Wonder

***

In the farthest reaches of space, a dark figure sat in a high-backed chair, a small frown on his handsome face. Many scars crisscrossed his body. He was missing one arm, but it had been replaced by a prosthetic that was nearly as good. Nearly was the keyword.

"The assassination is complete, sir," informed an armor-covered man from his kneeling position at the scarred man's illustrious feet. He felt honored to even be standing in the presence of this man, the one who would finish the wars and rule the world and the colonies together, as one, and create a grand army to prevent another outbreak.

"Very good," said the man, even though he felt bitter bile rise in his throat at the thought. "You can rise, fool, I'm not going to hurt you. Like I said, this is supposed to be a fight for freedom."

The armored man rose from his knees, his ears and cheeks burning in embarrassment. The scarred man stood and began pacing on the small, raised platform. His thoughts were mainly of the last battle he'd been in and trying to remember anything of his own eradicated past. 

"Admiral Kinde, please, calm down," said the armored man. "It is not befitting of the future President of the United Forces to pace like that."  
"Lieutenant, in case you haven't realized, I _am_ only fifteen years old," Admiral Kinde spoke like a confused child. The armored man understood quite well that the boy _was_ a child, but he was so smart, so intimidating, no one could have been able to notice. None except for maybe Kinde's superior, but not one of the X Force's soldiers, including him, had ever set eyes on the man before. And few, a precious few Lieutenants such as himself, had seen the Admiral either. This was only his third time in his great presence. He felt obligated to try and assuage his grand leader's fears.

"I know, Admiral Kinde, but-"  
"Do you know what happened to me, Lieutenant?" He interrupted suddenly. The boy's shoulder-length brown hair glinted in the dim light, making him seem all the more innocent and childish. "I've lost every memory I once owned, except for two facts: I used to live on Earth, and my last name is Kinde. I think I may still have family on Earth, but I don't know."  
"Admiral Kinde, please, we've checked the records carefully," the Lieutenant soothed calmly, knowing this was a time for gentleness, not stiffness. "There is no one left on Earth who goes by the last name of Kinde. There was a girl your age, but she was lost in one of the battles."

Admiral Kinde grit his teeth. 

"Are you sure she didn't survive? No one had believed I did in the Massacre of Colony 1120, but here I stand, nearly perfect condition," the scarred man stood up taller and revealed mere scars, all very light with the exception of one that crossed over his right eye. And his missing limb, of course, but who could notice that when it was covered with long sleeves and gloves?

"We are quite certain she did not, sir," the armored man answered.

"Okay," Admiral Kinde sighed. "Thank you, Lieutenant Nakami."

"Is that all, sir?" Nakami asked, ready to leave.

"Yes. You may go. Send in Captain Rei."

"Yes, sir," Nakami turned, his long, midnight blue hair swinging in its loose braid as he marched out the door. In stepped a pretty young woman, only a little older than Admiral Kinde himself. She marched with purpose up to him and gave a bow.

"You requested me, sir?" she asked, her face set in the stony indifference she was named for.

"Yes," he answered. "Do you know anything about a gem on Earth?"

"There are thousands of gems, sir, all over the planet," she answered, keeping a straight face easily despite the small joke she had made. "Do you know of which gem you speak?"

"I keep seeing it in my dreams," he answered, slouching thoughtfully in his chair. The tall and wide chair made him seem all the more childish, and Rei felt sorry for him. Such a horrid thing it was to be a pawn in this multiworld war, but she could not let her identity become known. She listened closely, hoping to be able to guard what she held so dear. "There are two of them, side by side, and they're so bright and beautiful and so very, very big. They're round and they have a small black spot in the center."  
"It sounds to me like you're describing a pair of green eyes, not gems," Rei mused, a smirk on her face. "Perhaps you are dreaming of your soul mate?"

The Admiral thought about this a moment, then shook his head. "I keep calling it gem even though I don't know why. Then the scene sort of switches and I see fields upon fields of golden wheat. Then it switches again and I see a flat, sandy plain and two mountains in the distance. The gems sort of hover above the mountains, like they belong there. Then it's like the scene switches again and the gems are hidden above a red cave of some sort."

"That is very confusing," Rei commented. "Don't worry, sir. It probably doesn't mean anything. It's just a dream."

__

Yes, that may be, thought the Admiral to himself. _But I know there's something about this dream. Something about my past..._

"We must find these gems, Captain. They hold the key to all the knowledge in the galaxy," the Admiral said, sitting up.

"What are they called, sir, besides gem?" 

Admiral Kinde did not know what else to call them. So, he came up with a name that he knew suited the two gems quite well. He knew his decision would be very wise, because the name was almost as beautiful as the gems themselves.

"The Orbs of Emerald."

***

The four Gundam Pilots sat around the kitchen table, discussing what they would train the new "recruit" in, seeming how they couldn't send her home and they had promised to allow her on their mission. Wufei was still unhappy about it, but he would deal with it. If she couldn't be destroyed, the most he could do was go along with the rest of the plan.

"She seemed pretty confident about being able to infiltrate the X Force's base," Quatre pointed out. "Maybe she's a little more skilled than we previously thought."  
"Either that or she's intelligent enough to bluff us into thinking that," Heero added, leaning back in his chair, his eyes closed in deep thought.

"Or both," Duo added. "Of course, you guys would never admit that a girl was smarter than you. I think she just may be, in a few ways."  
"Watch yourself, Maxwell," Wufei growled. "So it is agreed. She learns hand-to-hand first and foremost. If she doesn't know how, the basics of driving and piloting. All women know first-aid already, so that is of no real concern."  
"Actually, Mr. Chang," I said as I descended the stairs, using caution because of my wound. I leaned lightly on the railing, but not enough to make myself look weak. "Not all women have it born and bred within them to do first-aid. However, my father did teach me a thing or two." I smirked at the shock on Duo and Quatre's faces, knowing they were befuddled that I was even out of bed in the first place. "And besides, way back when, _men_ were the nurses, not the women."

"You should be in bed, Jem, not up and running about like that," Quatre said, pointing up the stairs at the bedroom I had just come out of. "It's not a good idea to walk around with a wound like that."  
"It was a scratch from the heat of the bullet," I said offhandedly, an indifferent expression on my face. "It was not an actual bullet wound. I'm fine, I heal very quickly." After all, I added silently, I was the phoenix, and the rose among the ashes. But, I added onto Jonathon's words, every rose had its thorns.

"Sit down, at least," Quatre pleaded with me, gesturing to the seat he'd come out of. I smirked and grabbed an empty chair from the kitchen table, mere meters away, sitting down in it backwards. The blond sat down again, uncertain of anything.  
"Where's the silent one?" I asked, not wanting to reveal that I'd been listening to their earlier conversation as well.

"Trowa's searching out the base," Heero answered, finally coming out from his previous position of relaxation and surveying the group of five that we'd become. Sitting in my lone kitchen chair, I felt myself become isolated from them by their eyes, as they were all staring at me. Duo and Quatre on the small couch, Heero in a single-cushion chair, and Wufei, all alone on the large couch. It was a strange sight to see, considering. I almost wished I could have taken the seat Quatre had gestured to instead of being stupid and getting a kitchen chair.

"So, what's next?" I asked, not being fazed by the uneasy silence for long. I had a feeling that I had better get used to the quiet, because it did not seem that Heero, Wufei, or Trowa were talkers, and Quatre seemed to just be a quiet person as well. Duo, on the other had, had been counted on to talk nonstop, but it seemed even he could not bear to break the taboo of silence when the others were so tense.

I, however, was used to silence. Jonathon had never been one to talk unless he was with me. When we were in a crowd, he just wasn't into it. It was as if his voice-box had been stolen from his throat. Until that day...the day we'd caught our first glance at a Gundam. Then, suddenly, it was like his whole world had been opened up. He talked to anyone who would listen about his encounter with the Gundam, whom I now knew to be Heero, always showing off his scorched, melted hand whenever he could.  
I had despised that wound for many, many moons until he'd finally asked me why. Then, I'd just broken down completely...

"Jem? Hello? Duo to Jem, can you hear me?" I snapped out of it and looked around quickly, bringing myself back to reality. I batted Duo's hand away with mine.

"Sorry, I spaced," I said, shaking my head roughly. "I don't normally do that, I don't know what is wrong with me." Giving myself another thorough shake, I came back down to Earth...or wherever I was. The others looked at me strangely.

"I really would suggest you lie down for a few more days," Quatre suggested calmly.

"Like hell!" I protested, annoyed. "That's boring."  
"Boring or not, it is required," Heero said, standing up. "Go back up."

"No way!" my voice went shrilly, making Wufei, Quatre, and Duo cringe at the pitch of it. Heero just stared at me, unfazed.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," he challenged, crossing his arms and shifting his weight to his left foot, a smirk in his eyes if not on his face. He was enjoying tormenting me!

"What do you mean, Heero?" Duo jumped up and tugged at Heero's left arm. "Don't hurt her any more, we need her now!"

"We do not need another weak girl for this mission any more than we needed Peacecraft," Wufei snarled at Duo angrily. Fury flashed in Heero's eyes as his head turned abruptly from me, now glaring at Wufei. The Japanese and Chinese boy exchanged looks that would have made any other men cringe away and run babbling for their mommies. However, neither of the boys were normal men.

"Hey, guys, guys, guys!" Duo said, jumping between them and holding them apart with his hands. "Leave Releena out of this, Wu-man, she never did nothing to you. Besides, who knew that this would happen?"

"Out of my way, Maxwell," Heero growled between gritted teeth. 

I stood back and watched, unable to do anything. I was completely helpless. The street-fighting Jonathon had taught me was nothing compared to what Wufei knew, and talking to either of them didn't seem to help anything. Especially considering I was on thin ice between these two as it was.

"No, Heero," Duo growled right back. "You two need to stop fighting, this isn't getting us anywhere. Releena wouldn't want-" 

The movement happened so quickly, I didn't notice it until the aftermath made itself known. Duo collapsed to the ground, a gash on the back of his head. Wufei was just as surprised as everyone else that Heero had struck the other boy, it was plain on his face. 

"Duo!" Quatre gasped, looking from the happy boy to the trigger-happy one. "Heero!" 

I said nothing, but sprang immediately into action. I found Duo's limp wrist and checked for a heartbeat, finding it beating strong and fast, my crouch sprung up to a stand again and I faced Heero, a scowl on my face and hands clenched nearly to the point of drawing blood if I'd had any fingernails to speak of. It was all I could do not to give him one right then and there.

"Just because he's right does not mean that you should strike him," I growled at him, the words coming out not quite the way I wanted, but my point got across. "Think about your actions next time, Perfect Soldier." I turned around on my heel and took Duo's left arm, hauling his limp body onto my shoulder, forgetting all about the pain that shot up and down my side again and again. Quatre snapped out of his daze and shouldered his right side, taking most of the weight. I glared at Heero one more time.   
"Just because you're a soldier does not give you rights to stop being human." With those words, I turned and walked up the stairs, Quatre trying to keep the majority of Duo's weight on his side to not strain me. We reached a bedroom near to mine and walked in.

"There's a bunch of supplies left in your room," Quatre informed me quickly, taking in the situation and taking charge. "I'll go get some damp clothes." I nodded, not taking orders, just doing what I did best: helping. We separated outside the door, me headed into the room I had come from, still ignoring the searing hot pain in my side, and him to the left, toward the bathroom at the end of the hall. Carrying the supplies in my arms, I reached the room before Quatre's return and set the things down on the end of the bed. 

I hauled Duo to a sitting position, using several pillows to prop him up that way, then started unbraiding his hair to make it easier to get to the wound. Quatre returned moments later and we worked in silence, cleaning the cut with the utmost gentle care. Once we finished wrapping an Ace bandage around his head loosely, I took a brush from the table in the room and re-fixed his hair the way he'd had it. Quatre watched me work closely, then helped settle Duo back into the covers. 

"I've never seen Heero react like that," Quatre said quietly. "Never with that much anger. I don't think he's ever actually _hit_ Duo before."  
"Losing a loved one can do that to people," I whispered softly. 

"I'm sorry...about your brother."  
"Heh. Jon believed in destiny. Maybe he was destined to die out there," I sighed sadly. "He told me that my destiny was different. He told me that I had to marry and grow old, and that I had to have at least one kid. But I don't want to."  
"Then you don't have to," Quatre confirmed my own silent right.

"He told me," I took a deep breath to stop from crying, then started again. "He told me once that I should have been called Phoenix instead of Jeminie."  
"Why is that?"

"He said that I was always picking up where I failed and started all over again. But I don't think I have the strength to do it this time," looking at my hands, a tear slipped down my cheek. "He was always there, no matter what. Until...until Heero attacked us at Nara."  
"You heard us talking." It wasn't a question or an accusation, merely a statement.

"Yeah," my face burned again. I hated to be caught in the act of a crime, no matter how small. I was sure hanging around these five would probably beat that out of me pretty quick.

"What happened in Nara? Do you want to talk about it?" Quatre asked gently.

"We were only thirteen then," I smiled lightly, the tears shining in my eyes. "We were going to fly kites in the field by Nara Air Force Base. Then our father called us back, telling us that the Gundams were attacking. Jon didn't hear and ran ahead. I ran after him, yelling at him that we had to get to the shelter."  
"But he didn't want to leave, did he?" 

"No. He wanted to go see the Gundams," I laughed bitterly. "Wanted to see everything. When I finally convinced him to go back, I made it in the shelter. He lowered himself using one hand. The Gundam fired and cooked Jon's hand like steak."  
"How did it change after that?" Quatre asked, looking worried. I think he knew where this was headed, but I continued.  
"My father and I bandaged the wound and we moved again. I hoped that the melted flesh wouldn't change him. But Jon was proud of the wound, for some reason. He'd show it off and tell his story to anyone who had a minute to spare. Like a child at Christmas with a new toy he'd always wanted. He talked about going to help fight the colonies, but I told him not to. It was too dangerous, it wasn't our fight."  
"But he went anyway, didn't he?" 

"Not only that," I smirked bitterly. I began speaking with a tone that sounded insane, but I didn't care. "He died. _Died_. In the Massacre of Colony 1120. If I ever find the officer responsible for sending those men into combat, I'll...I'll-" I cut myself off with a grunt and lashed out at the thin air, revealing just precisely what I would do to that particular officer of the Earth Sphere.

"You needn't worry about him," Quatre smiled reassuringly. "He's dead."

"I know," I laughed again, the sound foreign in my throat. "I know. He's dead and gone, gone to hell, I hope."  
"There's no doubts there," Quatre shrugged. The conversation became too unbearable for me, and probably for both of us, because we sat in awkward silence for what felt like an hour, just watching Duo's steady breaths. I think he had come out of unconsciousness and went straight into sleep.

"Why's he like that?" I asked suddenly, breaking the taboo of eerie quiet. "Heero, I mean. Why's he the Perfect Soldier and not anyone else?"

"I don't know myself," Quatre shook his head. "War does things like that to people. We all were effected differently from the training. I guess Heero is what they call a total success."

"War, what a laugh," I shook my head, my words not matching my actions at all. "It's because of this war that thousands are dead, millions are injured, and millions are without shelter and food. It's because of our inability to see through our hatred and differences that this war has dragged on for so long."

"I agree perfectly," Quatre nodded, watching Duo again. He didn't look at me until I spoke again, my mind made up now.

"I'm going to help you guys stop the X Force if it's the last thing I do," I pledged earnestly. "War will not continue as long as I'm around." He glanced up and smiled.

"Nor I."

***

Now we know that Jon is actually alive and he's in charge, more or less, of the X Force! And just how hard Heero was hit by Releena's death. (I know people don't really like her, and I didn't either, but the story was the story. Assassinating Peacecraft killed three birds with one stone, so to speak.) I'll go ahead and upload the next chapter, because the next one is supposed to be a continuation of this one.


	4. Of Soldiers and Demons

Well, this chapter explains a little more in depth the plotline for the whole story and the true menace and savior of the Gundam dimension. So, here we are, the time of true wonder.

Disclaimer: Do I have to keep doing this? I don't know, Sarah doesn't do one for each chapter, only at the beginning of the story. Oh, well. I don't own Gundam Wing. Oh, and I don't make any money from this. The only thing that fuels this is my pride.

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Orbs of Emerald

Chapter 4: Of Soldiers and Demons

***

Heero walked down the stretch of beach that was part of Quatre's estate. He thought about the words that Jem had spoken so harshly to him. She had no idea how much those words had effected him.

__

Just because he's right does not mean that you should strike him. Think about your actions next time, Perfect Soldier.

"Think about my actions?" he muttered aloud. He'd never been asked to do such a thing. He always had just done what he'd been told, when he'd been told to do it. Was she right? Should he have thought about what he did before he'd done it?

__

Just because you're a soldier does not give you rights to stop being human.

Was he even human anymore? He couldn't know. He'd seen Jem laugh at Duo's jokes, though she tried not to. She tried to hide her feelings. She succeeded, most of the time. Her emotions still shone through in her bright green eyes, though. He wondered if his eyes betrayed his true emotions like hers did.

Why did he care what she said? That question ran fleetingly through his mind and was quickly answered. It was because he had been asking himself the same questions she'd implied. Was he truly only a puppet, meant only to fight and fight and fight forever until he was finally killed or forced to kill himself?

He looked out over the fake ocean that ended abruptly about thirty yards out, becoming a transparent dome looking out at the stars. He considered swimming out to the island Quatre had built for him, but thought against it.

"If that is so," he mused to himself quietly. "Then I should kill myself now and be done with it." He pulled out his gun and studied it. He'd done this many, many times before and each time he'd come to the shaky conclusion that he still had something to live for.

But with Peacecraft's death, he had been shot through with these thoughts and emotions tenfold. Why had he attacked Duo when the other boy had mentioned Peacecraft? Sure, she had been a friend to him, a very good friend, but why should he attack an even closer friend because of her death? Why?

These thoughts and others burned Heero Yuy's soul and questions pierced his heart. Time was not of the essence, not out here. But with each question and thought that went unanswered, he felt as if he was accepting blow after aching blow to his spirit. He hoped that he would heal soon, because despite how painful it had been to get shot himself, this pain, this emotional pain that became almost physical, was five times as worse.

Erasing the serene look upon his face and replacing it with the Perfect Soldier mask of indifference, he headed back to Quatre's mansion. But despite his attempts to sort out his feelings and emotions, he had only succeeded in making them run deeper. And that frightened him more than any gun in the world.

***

Dirken sat languidly on his throne, concealed in the shadows behind Admiral Kinde. He smirked to himself. This boy, Kinde, was so naive, and yet so very useful, especially without his memories. He ran a hand through his lavender hair, disgust written on his brow as he pulled it into his vision. He despised this hair because it reminded him of the boy who had helped Angel so much in his last dimension.

Trunks had been the boy's name. Yes...Dirken mused to himself. He would exact his revenge on all seven dimensions. They had locked him up in a seemingly-inescapable area of the HFIL, known better as the Dead Zone. But he had left his body behind and had gone to the first dimension he could find that was not one of the seven.

He ended up in the middle of a war zone. He took over a body and found out what all the fuss was about. The Gundams...Operation Meteor...five boys...this dimension was a splendid place. He hopped from body to body, fueling emotions and feelings to aid the ever-growing bonfire of a war. He initially caused nearly everything that happened now.

Then that stupid man, Zechs Marquese or Miliardo Peacecraft or whatever his name was, had killed himself. Dirken had started another, though. He fueled Mariemeia Khushrenada's feelings of following in her father, Treize's footsteps. Then those stupid Gundams, along with that stupid Peacecraft, both siblings, and that idiotic Dorothy and those stupid men had all come together and defeated Mariemeia and Dekim.

Dirken started one final battle in which the last of the Mobile Dolls fought. Among them was this pea-brained, but prophet-dreamer boy. Dirken had spared him, killing the rest with a Demon's Flare.

He had found what he was looking for. This world's power. This world's item that held the keys to all. You see, Dirken could not escape this world unless he had his original body, which was still caught up in the Dead Zone.

Dirken had found the documents describing the gems. The Orbs of Emerald, as they were now called by Kinde's decision. Dirken had placed the idea in Kinde's head and found the two possible places they could be. Mars and some desert on Earth.

He grinned to himself, forgetting the lavender locks that framed his dark blue eyes. He would find them. And then he would rule over these eight worlds.

***

Rei Nani left the Admiral's chambers feeling tense. She was the Guardian of the Dimensional Gates and the Orbs, she wasn't some handmaiden! But of course, she was the only real one who could do the job. Protect the Orbs.

When Dirken the demon had pushed through the gates, she had been worried, sure. But when he'd discovered the existence of the Orbs, she'd panicked. She re-hid the Orbs separately, one inside a cave on the planet Mars, and one inside a young girl's heart. Jeminie Kinde was the Keeper of one of the Orbs, though she knew it not. Rei and the Keeper were connected through the Orb's aura.

The Orbs had special powers that Rei had to protect. One of them was the power to allow the wishes of their holder to come to pass, whether they be good or evil. Another was the power to rule over all of this world, regardless. There was no fighting the Orbs. That was why she had been made to protect them and the Gates.

"But I failed," Rei muttered aloud. "I failed to guard the gates. He still came through." She sighed and ran a delicate-looking hand through her cerulean hair. 

And because of her poor insights on the reasoning behind guarding the Orbs, she had placed it within the one Keeper who wasn't a very good choice. If the Keeper died, so did the Orb. If the Keeper's heart remained unstable and on a roller-coaster of emotions, the Orb would lose its power and soon die out, taking the Keeper with it.  
But not just the Keeper. If just one of the Orbs died, this dimension would vanish. Every possible outcome was inconceivable if that single gem was destroyed. If one or the other died, then the dimension would die with it.

In other words, this world was doomed if Jem's emotions didn't get set straight. She had a broken heart from her losses and she would need a miracle to mend it. But what kind of miracle could Rei give her? Rei was a goddess, for certain, but she couldn't give out miracles left and right without some sort of motivation and spirit behind the persons who received them.

And Jem was not motivated. In the least.

***

"You should go back to bed," Quatre suggested quietly. "Don't worry about Duo. He'll be fine."  
"I'm not worried about him," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "I just don't want to be downstairs when Perfect Soldier and Wufei get back." It was a good excuse. But I was certain that he could see the worry in my eyes. I was worried about the stupid boy, I didn't know why. Maybe it was because he looked and acted so much like Jonathon...  
"I'm with you on that one," Quatre chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Those two can be quite troublesome people." I laughed, too, my voice gravelly and rough.

Duo groaned softly.

"You think baka there's coming to?" I asked, repressing a grin as I jerked my thumb toward him.

"He could be just talking in his sleep," Quatre reversed. "Do you know Japanese?"

"I know tidbits of an array of different languages," I rolled my eyes. "Jonathon taught me. Mostly just insults and how to count and say hello and goodbye."

"In Japanese?"

"Yeah, and Spanish and just a tiny amount of German," I shrugged. "It was no big deal, our old house had a huge library all to itself."  
"Tell me some, then," his voice sounded smug and I knew he was trying to get me to slip up. 

"Okay, let's see here...Jap first. Konnichi Wa, Ohayo Gozaimasu, Ja Ne, Sayonara, Ichi, Ni, Son, Go. Can I stop anytime soon?"

"Yeah, there's good," he nodded. "What about the insult part?"

"I've promised myself and my family that I will never go beyond heck and hell," I grinned mischievously. "And that's Jigoku, I'm pretty sure."   
I cocked my head gently, hearing a noise downstairs.

"They're back," I informed Quatre. "I should be getting to sleep. G'night."

"Pleasant dreams," he added a soft smile and a wave before turning his attention back on the sleeping Duo. (AN-That's one person, not two.)

***

Wufei walked back in the house, just behind Heero, who he'd found about a hundred yards from the house. The black-haired boy had thought long and hard over his standings and had come to a single conclusion that was shocking, even to him. The girl was strong. The others were right. As much as it was a dishonor on his pride, he knew that he had to make an apology to the others so as not to lose even more of it. 

But he'd almost never apologized to anyone before, mostly because he was almost never wrong about something. Even though it was an injustice to his pride, he'd told Heero that he was sorry about the little comment on Peacecraft. Heero had simply nodded and walked past him into the living room of the house.

"Yuy?" Wufei asked, shocked at what he saw. Was the Japanese boy really planning on it? Had he been just in time to stop him? "Why is the gun in your hand?"

Heero looked at his right hand and saw that he still held the gun in his hand from when he had been studying it. Replacing it in his pocket (AN-Nobody knows where he really puts it, so I'm guessing it's in his pocket. *shrugs*), he shook his head, showing mild bafflement on his face as he headed upstairs. 

Shaking his head with a sigh, the Chinese boy headed up the stairs where he'd seen Winner and the girl take Maxwell. He had a small spark of hope that Yuy hadn't actually succeeded in killing the American, and was slightly relieved to see him resting peacefully in bed, though he did not reveal it to Winner (AN-Um...what nationality is Quatre and Trowa?).

"Hello, Wufei," Winner said as soon as he noticed the other boy. "What brings you here?"  
"I...I suppose I just wanted to tell you guys that...um..." suddenly, the Chinese boy was at a loss for words. It wasn't normal, he knew, but things did not always go as he planned it. "I wanted to apologize. I am sorry for the trouble I have caused."  
Winner smiled gently and nodded. "It's okay, Wufei. We all know what it's like to have to apologize. Maybe even Heero's had that pleasure once."  
"I doubt Yuy has ever apologized," Wufei said, sinking into the chair, unbeknownst to him, that Jem had occupied minutes ago. "Where's the girl?"

"She went to bed right before you guys came in," Quatre smirked. "She's a lot better a person than what she's led on, though. And a lot smarter."  
"I just hope she's strong enough," Wufei smirked. "With us for instructors, she'd better be." 

***

The next morning, I awoke to the smell of bacon cooking in the kitchen. A knock on the door pulled me out of my half-asleep state and, sitting up, I called to whoever it was to come inside. I was greeted with Quatre's blue eyes and an armful of clothes.

"G-Good morning, Jem," he said reproachfully. "I brought you some fresh clothes." I cocked an eyebrow at his strange behavior and inquired on it.  
"What happened to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're acting scared," I said, giving him a nudging look with my eyes.

"Oh..." he blushed. "Well, I'm sort of used to my sisters and well...they aren't exactly morning people."  
"Not all girls are _girls_, if ya know what I mean," I said, smirking. "Unlike most people, I _am _a morning person. I have been since I stopped going to school." I shrugged, getting up and trying to smooth out my jeans. "I guess that without a priority to run with, I sort of...I don't know how to explain it." 

"Oh," he nodded as if he completely understood, but I knew he didn't because he set the clothes down on the dresser. "D-Do you w-want m-me to ch-check? On your wound?" His stuttering voice sent me into a fit of giggles unlike anything I had ever expected out of myself. I was usually not a laughing person, but...the confused look on his face combined with the innocent and trying stammers was just too much. 

"Of course," I said, taking a deep breath. "I have a brother, you have sisters, there's not really a big difference between me and them and you and...him." I bit my lip gently, then raised my eyebrows.

"Okay, if you're sure..." he nodded uncertainly. I rolled my eyes. Now it was just getting annoying. I lifted my loose T-shirt, leaving my sport's bra in place. I helped Quatre slowly and trying-my-patience carefully unravel the Ace bandage, followed by the roll gauze, and finally the non-stick gauze, revealing an almost-healed scrape along my side. His eyes went wide in shock and looked from my face to the scarred wound and back again.  
"How did it heal so quickly?" he asked finally, realizing that my patience was wearing thin with him at the moment. "I mean...a wound like this on one of the others or myself would have taken a week just to scab, and a month to scar like this!"  
"I told you before," I said with a tired sigh. My body wasn't weary, just my patience with reactions like this one. "My body heals very quickly, especially cuts and scrapes. I don't know why, it just...happens." I shrugged, sending a small shoot of pain down my side. My face grimaced lightly, but the dull, throbbing pain I'd felt earlier had vanished. 

"Okay...whatever you say," he shook his head. "I'm going to check on Duo. Get dressed, breakfast is ready."

"I'll come with you to see Duo after I get dressed," I said grimly. "I do _not_ want to face Perfect Soldier or Wufei after last night. Give them a chance to chill, know what I mean?"

"Do I," he laughed lightly, then closed the door, locking it on the way out. Studying my wound for the first time, I couldn't believe how quickly it had healed either, truth be told. A bullet wound like that couldn't have healed this quickly, it just wasn't possible. But impossible things happened every second of every day, so who was I to complain that I wasn't in absolute agony in bed for a month?

My new clothes consisted of a pair of black jeans that fit loosely with it cinched around my waist by a brown leather belt and another loose T-shirt like the one before. Quatre had also been kind enough to give me a brush, which I quickly ran through my hair. My footsteps were silent as I headed toward Duo's bedroom. I was met by Quatre at the door.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," Quatre whispered, shutting the door. "He's awake."  
"I'll set him straight. Come on, back me up," I grabbed Quatre's arm and marched into the room. 

"So, you're up then, huh?" I asked, my composure nothing short of pure confidence as I crossed my arms over my chest. Quatre stood behind me, still baffled.

"Of course I'm up, where's Heero, I oughta-"  
"You oughta shut your mouth once in a while," I interrupted, giving him a glare that meant for him to be seen and not heard. "It may save your life around these guys. Geez, you'd think that with the Perfect Soldier pointing his gun every which way and Chang in there talking about justice and honor that you'd learn to keep your big mouth shut when things get tense. You let your guard down and stepped over into _dangerous_ territory by mentioning Peacecraft. Big no-no on trigger-happy folks, Maxwell." Duo stared at me, dumbfounded, and Quatre gaped, neither one thinking I'd ever say such things. But it was true, wasn't it? And it got Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky to shut his ever-running trap, didn't it?

"Now, why don't we look at that big head of yours?" I asked cheerfully, with them both still staring straight at me. It was unnerving, the least be told. He continued to stare, as did Quatre. I cleared my throat. "Okay, this is the part where you're supposed to nod and say, 'yes, ma'am'. Hello? Duo? Can you even hear me? You're not deaf, are you?" I waved my hand in front of his eyes and he nodded very slowly. Quatre walked over and nonchalantly began unwrapping the bandage, being extremely deft. Studying it, the dried blood and a small scab covering it revealed that it hadn't been very bad at all, more likely just give him a _major _headache these next couple days, but that was it. 

"Okay, how many fingers am I holding up?" I asked sweetly, holding up two. He studied them closely and said four. I sighed. "Close enough, let's get downstairs. Breakfast and all. Can't wait to face those two raging bulls after what happened yesterday." Notice the supreme sarcasm. Duo gave a weak laugh, attempting not to because of his head. He winced, though, making me smile.   
"Wimp," I teased him.   
"I am not!" he cringed.

"Are so," I argued back playfully.

"Not!" Wince.

"So!"

"Not!" Wince

"How long is this going to continue?" Quatre moaned.

"Wimp!" I tempted him again.  
"I am not!" He grimaced again.

"Are so!"

"Not!" Wince.

"Not!"  
"So!" He winced again, and realized a split second what he had said, making the three of us laugh again. I smirked as this induced even more pain on the poor, helpless boy and ensued the temptation of causing more pain by jabbing him in the ribs. Jon and I used to play this game all the time...Duo was way too much like him. For some reason, however, this did not make me as sad as I had thought it would. It actually made me...happy.

I shrugged off this as soon as we reached the table, where two sullen faces glared at glasses of orange juice and plates of bacon, eggs, and buttered toast. I didn't know whether to consider this a funny situation or a serious one, because they looked mad at their toast, not at us. When Heero glanced up, however, his expression softened slightly, only reverting back to his indifferent Perfect Soldier mask instead of a stewing rage. 

Wufei did not glance up until we were all seated at the table. He looked at me in particular and scowled. I scowled right back and fought the urge to childishly stick out my tongue at him. After all, it would only prove how "weak" I was.

"I wish to apologize for my actions yesterday," he said stiffly, sitting up in his chair with what could only be described as military grace. I could tell this apology hurt his pride immensely, but did not soak in satisfaction because of it. I was not one to wallow in the glory of overcoming another, no matter how rude they may be.

"Apology accepted," I said, a smirk on my face. "But only if we start training soon."  
"We start tomorrow," Wufei answered, taking a quick sip of his orange juice. "At six AM sharp." I nodded decisively and smiled.

"Then it is good that you get a chance to cool first. I wouldn't want tempers flaring during training. It isn't very convenient."

"Believe me. It will not be convenient," the Chinese boy smirked, his dark eyes holding a malice so deep, I knew it right then and there that I had gotten myself onto some thin ice and only proving my strengths would I be able to get back to the salted and swept walkway.

***

This single idea took a lot longer than I anticipated, so the next chapter is going up.


	5. Training and Pranks

Um...not quite sure how to explain this chapter. When I was writing the notes to this, the only thing I put under this was: Training begins. Work this out. And suddenly I've got this small prank war going on between Jem, Duo, and Quatre and Wufei and Heero. Also, a small cameo appearance by the gang from Ranma 1/2, courtesy of Sarah's suggestion when I was coming up with a prank for Jem and the gang to play on Wufei.

Weird, if you asked me. I'm not typically the prankster, but this time it was too perfect. This is the part of the story that Sarah told you about, Ctarl Angel, so take a look!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Ranma 1/2, nor do I make any money from this.

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Orbs of Emerald

Chapter 5: Training and Pranks

***

"That all you got?!" I shouted tauntingly at Heero. Training had begun at six, just as my new "instructor" had implied. When I had informed him of my street-fighting background, he had suggested a spar against the Perfect Soldier after his training session. No problem with me, I enjoyed the challenge. Though I do wish he'd stop holding back. This was even easier than fighting Jonathon!

Heero merely grunted and fell back into a defensive stance. But I knew better than to rush into things. He had laid a trap in his defense, I knew this. I only needed to find it. Jon had told me that the most important thing to think about when fighting a skilled fighter was to look for his weak spot and his traps and exploit them to your advantage.

"Thanks, bro," I sneered at Heero, studying him. His weak spot in this stance was obviously his back and his knees, but there was a trap laid in his feet. If I tried to go left, as I often did, I'd get creamed by his left foot. But if I went right, I could probably fall him with a sweep, but it was a question of whether he was expecting something like that or not. 

Probably the latter, because he had underestimated me several times already that day in different things. He had expected me to only run a mile to start, but I'd run three in the same time he had set for a mile. He'd expected only ten push-ups, but he'd gotten fifty. He'd expected thirty sit-ups, but he'd gotten eighty. 

The others had decided to divide up the "training" into different hour groupings in the day. Heero had me for the second "shift". After the hand-to-hand combat training was completed, he was supposed to begin teaching me how to drive. I didn't know how because I never had a vehicle to learn in.

Wufei had taught me earlier, mostly about the codes the five had to learn since they were young. Justice, honor, strength, heart, mind, soul, body, spirit, countenance, resistance...so many things. And I had to learn it all in a fraction of the time the five boys had been given. But I was up to the challenge. And I was ready.

I decided finally that he wouldn't expect a sudden and risky attack like that and charged, seemingly like I didn't have one clue as to what I was doing and just throwing myself into the battle without thinking. His eyes lowered, studying me mirthfully. No smile, no smirk, but a ruthless and cunning look of satisfaction in his eyes were all that I needed. He did not know what I was planning.

At the very last second, I dropped, bringing my right leg out and sweeping him. He fell for my trick like a rock, and fell to the ground like one too. He stood up slowly, looking slightly dazed. I gave him a half-hearted wave of a girlish nature from under my chin and a sweet smile speaking only of my own mirth.

"You deceived me," he said, his monotone in full swing.  
"Duh," I teased. "You really shouldn't underestimate me, Perfect Soldier, or you won't live up to your nickname anymore. Beaten by a poor, 'defenseless', 'weak' little girl." I clucked my tongue in mock shame toward him, then smiled brightly. "So, maybe we oughta get going on the driving part of this."

By lunchtime, I knew how to drive any kind of vehicle that had a motor inside it, knew how to defend myself, knew how to identify over twenty different kinds of guns, and how to hack into the most basic of passwords. A pretty impressive list of new qualities, considering it had only been seven hours.

Of course, by that time, my mind was fried and my hands and feet were unable to make more than the most basic robotic movements. Quatre and Duo would be my "teachers" after lunch was over, thank my lucky stars. Or so I thought.

"Sit down, take a load off," Duo suggested as soon as my sweat-drenched person entered the living room. Quatre was making lunch. 

"Don't mind if I do," I smiled and took a seat beside him on the large couch. "So what'll you be torturing me with, Maxwell?" He chuckled and sat up, wincing ever so slightly as he did so. His head still bothered him, but he was getting back to being his normal self.

"Actually, I don't know," he answered. "I should be teaching you how to pilot different space crafts, but I can't get out in space without my head going through the roof, and then we'd lose all our air pressure."  
"That would be bad," I said seriously, nodding as though it weren't a joke. He laughed again.

"Well...hmm...do you know how to swim?"

"Is this a trick question?" I asked, scared. I didn't want them finding out I couldn't swim!!

"No, it is a very simple one," Heero answered, sitting down beside me as well. His eyes held the most basic amount of mirth within them as he unknowingly teased me about my lack of skills in the water. "If you cannot swim, it is a good idea to let him teach you." My eyebrows drew together and a scowl crossed my lips.

"And what does that mean?" I was ignoring the question, I knew, but still, he made me so mad, I almost thought of challenging him to another spar right then and there. But my muscles reminded me it was not a very good idea.

"That you don't know how to swim," Heero answered, amusement in his eyes. His face still remained cold and lifeless, like an extremely well-animated robot.

"So what?!" I screeched. "Is that a crime?? I never lived near any large bodies of water, how was I supposed to learn?"

"Don't worry about it, it's nothing to be ashamed of," Duo chuckled beside me merrily, as though the whole thing were a joke. Right. Nothing to be ashamed of, uh huh. The look on Heero's face told me that if he were a normal human being, he'd be laughing his head off right about now, because his eyebrows were shot up about a centimeter and the corner of his left lip was curled about a quarter of a nanometer. He was smirking, a very, very small smirk, but still, it was better than nothing at all from the Perfect Soldier.

"Um...Duo?" I said, realizing something for the first time. "I don't have a suit to _go_ swimming in the first place."  
"Don't worry about that," Quatre smiled as he entered the room. He looked sort of sheepish as he explained. "Dinner sort of burned, so we'll have to go to the mall at Colony 1024. We can pick up some clothes for you while we're there."  
"But Quatre, I don't have any money," I protested. I did _not_ want to go to the mall. I hated shopping almost as much as I hated fashion and cheerleading. It truly amazed me that with all the fighting that had been going on these past few centuries, girls still found ways to cheerlead and boys still found ways to play sports. 

"Didn't you know?" Duo asked, laughing again. I could see tears at the corners of his eyes, even. "Quatre's the heir to the Winner fortune! He's a billionaire! A few clothes won't even put a dent in his account." I blinked several times in shock. Now why didn't I see that before? He owned a private colony with his own space port and several different kinds of space crafts and supported four of his friends, now five, and I hadn't seen the fact that he was rich?

"You sure about this?" I asked, being polite and blunt at the same time. I knew that he could afford it, but still...

"Yeah, of course I'm sure," he smiled again. "Don't worry about it." I smiled weakly, then nodded my consent. What else could I do?

***

"I knew this was a bad idea," I muttered under my breath as we headed into _another_ shop. Who knew the Winner guy was such a shopper? The guy was sharp on comfortable clothes and places to get them, that was for certain. So far, I had three training outfits, a lounging outfit, several pairs of blue jeans and so many T-shirts I couldn't count them all. Now we were finally getting precisely what _started_ this little hell of mine: a swimming suit.

"Why did I have to encourage him?" Duo moaned beside me, quiet enough the blond boy didn't hear him, but loud enough that I could. Luckily, we'd left Heero and Wufei in the eatery, where they had still been eating.

"Yes, that's precisely my question," I whispered to him. He grimaced and shrugged, grinning his head off. Looking at his hair, I sighed and spoke in my normal voice. "You need a haircut. At least a trim. You've got split ends like mad. Speaking of which...so do I." I moaned, seeing the tips of my brown hair. Why did they split like that? Why?

"We can do that right after we get you both a new swim suit," Quatre said up ahead a little. He turned back and smiled. "It's not often we come into the mall, so it's a good idea to do it now." I nodded, smiling, but scowled when he turned back around. Great. Now we had another stop to make before going back on the _Shield_, the ship we'd washed in on, so to speak.

The Beach store we came out of minutes later had been the fastest store in the whole mall. True to his word, Quatre had gotten us _both_ new swim suits, mine a modest blue two-piece, Duo's a long pair of dark blue trunks. (AN-Imagine if Trunks were here in his trunks...that'd be one sweet sight. ^_^;)

When we reached the salon, I saw an advertisement for colored contact lenses in the window. It was then that I had an awful, evil, but incredibly hilarious idea. It was so terrible, I couldn't believe my normally-prank-deprived brain had come up with it.

"Hey, Quatre...what do you say we give Perfect Soldier a little fright when he finds us...hmm?" I raised my eyebrows daringly and pointed at the sign. His eyes widened substantially, then he nodded.

"What? What is it?" Duo cried. "What are you two planning?"  
We explained it to the braided baka and began our plotting in a huddled triangle, discussing different possibilities and methods. Finally, we had it. Calling over a salon mistress, our hard-worked plan was put into solid action.

***

Heero and Wufei had both finished their lunches and had gone their separate ways. Both boys 

were full and satisfied and wanted to go home before they were recognized by the enemy. They had split up, one headed to the east side of the mall, the other to the west. Heero just had the bad luck of getting the west side, where Jem, Duo, and Quatre were plotting their unpleasant scheme to be played upon himself and Wufei soon enough. He was unaware of the other patrons who passed him by, but this soon changed. 

"Johnny!" screeched a girl's high-pitched voice. "Johnny Marrell Guno, you get your rear back here this instant!" Suddenly, he found himself in the angry clutches of a wild woman. She had grabbed his ear, but he could still see her perfectly. She wore an extremely short red dress, showing more than half of her thigh and a good deal of her neck and back with its halter-like top.

"Ma'am, I'm not-"  
"Don't you talk back to your aunt, Johnny Marrell," she screeched, shoving him onto a nearby bench, nearly tearing his left ear off. She put her fists on her hips and glared at him with fiery blue eyes. "I've been looking for you everywhere and don't give me that 'I was looking at the games gig', I know you were in that Hot Topic shop again, Johnny."  
"Look," Heero growled angrily, his face heating up at this woman's words. "I am not-"  
"You dare talk back to me, Johnny?!" the woman screeched again. "There is no dodging and kicking me around, you slick dog! I'll have you know that if your father ever knew what kind of disobedient brat you've become, why, he'd slit your throat himself! My word, if I ever..." The woman, with her blue eyes and brown hair, continued berating him, calling him different names and such, but he sat there, steaming in his own stew. Why was this woman behaving like this? It was obvious that there was no arguing with her.

"You stay right there, Johnny Marrell Guno, because I swear to high heaven if I find you gone, your hind parts will be lit up like a Christmas tree!" with that, the woman marched off, her hips waving smoothly back and forth. She looked actually quite beautiful, and very familiar even with her back to him. Her short brown hair was tied back in a small ponytail and a small amount was put into two side ponytails. 

His only thought as he stood up again, brushing himself off, was that if Wufei had something like that happen to him, he'd have a great deal more respect for women. Especially Jem, as she did not seem the loud-mouthed, shrieking-at-the-top-of-her-lungs type of girl. Although, she did have the womanly curves that made her seem better than that woman.

"I hope to high heaven I don't ever see that woman again," he muttered under his breath and continued his search for Jem, Duo, and Quatre.

***

We were laughing so hard, I thought my sides were going to explode. I had long since changed out of that extremely short dress and had wiped off all the make-up and was back into my blue jeans and T-shirt. We had tossed the dress, along with the high-heeled shoes, into a garbage can and were stuffing the recorded video in among the clothes. I had taken off the wig and was furiously trying to erase the evidence of the bun I'd put it in to allow the wig to stay. I wasn't making much progress, because there were small ribs in the bits of hair where they had once been.

"It was so funny, you should have seen his face when you grabbed him by the ear," Duo crowed, slapping his knee in roaring laughter. "It was just hilarious! And then he called you 'ma'am', the boy really thought you were some mistaken aunt of a kid named Johnny!"

"Where did you come up with that name, anyway?" Quatre asked, chuckling into his hand.

"Johnny was an old neighbor of ours who was always causing mischief," I laughed even as I explained. "Marrell was the name of the town we were born in. Guno was made up from gun then adding o. Ingenious, if I do say so myself."  
"What are we going to do to Wufei? He's on the other side of the mall," Duo asked, wiping tears from his eyes. I gave it some thought, and an evil grin crossed my face.

"I got the perfect idea..." we huddled again and separated seconds later to ensue our new course of action...

***

Wufei scowled as he glanced around another department store, seeing not one sign of any of his companions. He exited the shop, still angry that he hadn't found anyone and wondered fleetingly if Heero had found them.

"Excuse me, sir?" asked a young, timid-looking young woman with blue eyes and black hair. She wore half-moon glasses and a modest dress. She was very pretty, but this thought was immediately shot down and burned to a crisp in his mind.

"Yeah?" He asked, turning to regard her easier.

"I was wondering if you knew where Sears was, sir," she said, very tentative. "My little sister's fiance said he was headed there and I am new to this colony."  
"Yes, it is that way," Wufei pointed in the direction she should go. "Do you need any help?"

"That would be most helpful," she smiled shyly. 

"AHHH!!!" a lone scream echoed down the wide walls of the mall. Wufei immediately leapt into a defense stance, but the girl took off running. Wufei stole after her, wondering what the heck she was doing. She was a girl, she shouldn't be running toward danger!

"Hey!" he called after her. "Where are you going?!"

"That was him!" she called back. "He's in trouble again!"

"Again?" Wufei raced after her, surprised at how fast and how nimbly she could run. It was almost as if she were flying compared to a tricycle in him. He ran faster, but only became a car in comparison to her SR-71 Blackbird speed (AN-That thing can go Mach 4 at _cruising_ speed! The fastest car can only go 210 mph...uh...anyone know how many mph are in a Mach?). Her speed was definitely impressive, especially for a girl.

"Ranma!" she yelled up toward a young girl who was cowering in a fountain. "Ranma, are you okay?"  
"That's your _sister's_ fiance?" Wufei asked, confused. "Are you sure you didn't mean _brother_?"

"Hey!" protested the sopping-wet girl in the pool. She hopped out of the pool and stood in a Kenpo Karate fighting stance. Chinese, Wufei nodded in approval. "I am _not_ going to marry her, understand? It was my father's idea and I'm not getting dragged into it."  
"Ranma, perhaps you should-"  
"No, I'm fine, Nabiki," Ranma called to the girl. "I'm just slightly tired is all." She still remained in the stance, glaring at Wufei, not once glancing at her friend.

"But Ranma-"  
"Not now, Nabiki!" Ranma said through gritted teeth.

"You should listen to your friend," Wufei said, smirking as he turned around and began to start his search for the others again. "You girls are weak."   
"What did you say?!" shouted Ranma, Nabiki, and another girl Wufei did not know. The three cornered him angrily before he could utter another peep.

"Nobody but nobody says girls are weak in front of Akane!" shouted the unknown girl, whom Wufei supposed was called Akane.

The girls proceeded to beat the *ahem* out of Wufei.

***

"Maybe we should help him?" I asked the others, a mirthful smirk upon my face. "I mean, this is much better than what we planned, but still, I don't want him to be totally peeved when we have to start training again tomorrow."

"I agree," Quatre said, still holding the recorder in his hand. "You guys go on ahead, I'll keep taping it."  
"Good idea," Duo laughed with a nod. "At least we'll be able to see Wufei get his butt kicked by girls. It's too funny!"

"Excuse me, was that supposed to imply what I think it did?" my eyes held warning in them as I glared slightly at Duo.  
"No, no, it's just that, you know," his arms were waving madly, then went behind his head in embarrassed laughter. "With his views on girls and stuff, well, it's sort of-"  
"-ironic," I finished, seeing his meaning crystal-clear now. "I agree. Come on, before he gets too badly beaten."  
"Yeah." Duo followed me as I stole into a hall.  
"Hey, hey, girls, girls!" I cried as though I were just running onto the scene. "Look, he didn't really mean it, he's just the comedian type, ya know, really sarcastic-funny type guy... heh, heh, sorry about that."  
"You with this jerk?" the girl called Akane lifted Wufei up by his lower ponytail while Ranma and Nabiki held his arms to his sides. I fought the urge to laugh at his obviously-hurt face and his scowl, but failed.

"Yeah, we are," Duo said, laughing. "Sorry about that, girls, could I buy you some coffee to make it up to you?"

"Duo, don't flirt, they're already mad at one guy today," I growled at him. "Come on, we've got to get back to our training." I turned back to the three girls, who were all looking very surprised.

"I am terribly sorry about him," I apologized again. "He's not a very manner-some person, if ya know what I mean."  
"Jem-" Wufei warned me, but Akane yanked his ponytail roughly, cutting him off.

"And besides that, he's my teacher, and I don't really like him when he's in a bad mood," I said brightly.

"Teacher?" Ranma dropped the left arm carefully. "As in martial arts teacher?"

"Yeah," I smirked, crossing my arms over my chest. "Would you please let him go?"

"Oh, sorry," Akane dropped Wufei's ponytail, but not without giving it a firm yank first. I covered my mouth, smothering a giggle.

"Thanks," Wufei mumbled. Nabiki dropped his other arm and Wufei slowly moved around to stand behind me, mostly protected from the "rabid" girls.

"Hold on," Ranma said behind them. "I'll go get the _other_ Ranma. You girls wait here." She took off quicker than I could comprehend and my eyes went wide.

"Boy, that girl's fast."  
"Not as fast as me," jested Akane smugly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said the first girl Wufei had run into. "We never properly introduced ourselves. I'm Nabiki and this is my little sister, Akane. That...uh...girl who just ran that way is Ranma. She went to get the _other_ Ranma, Akane's fiance." Wufei's eyebrow shot up, but Duo and I shrugged it off.

"I'm Jem and this is Duo and the guy you were beating up is Wufei. We've two other friends wandering around here named Quatre and Heero, also known as the Perfect Soldier," I smiled and held out my hand. Nabiki stared at it a moment before taking it.

"Sorry, we're originally Japanese," she said, smiling. "But our town was destroyed in the Massacre of Colony 1120, so we moved to this colony in hopes of starting over. Both Ranmas are from China."  
"Ah, Heero's Japanese too. And Wufei is Chinese," Duo smiled brightly. "And I'm American. I do believe Jem is too."

"Yeah, but I was in Japan for a short spell, too, in Nara," I said, then looked around. "I wonder where Quatre is? And Heero?"

Just as the words left my mouth, I saw Heero walking down the hall, a rather bright red left ear and a scowl set in his features. Upon seeing us, his Perfect Soldier mask came back in full force. Quatre walked over toward us, carrying the five bags that we had gotten. I had a sneaking suspicion that the tapes and recorder were hidden randomly in the bags as well.

"Speak of the devils," I laughed. "That's Heero and Quatre."   
"Wow, he really does look the Perfect Soldier," whispered Nabiki. As soon as the two reached us, a young boy with black hair pulled in a similar braid to Duo's halted a rather fast run between the girls. 

"Hey," the boy said to the girls. "Is this the pretty girl with the pretty name Ranma was talking about?"

"If you're talking about me, I'm not pretty," I said, my face set in a deep glower. "Nor am I impressed." This guy seemed to have the total air of confidence that was even worse than Duo's when I'd first met him. But I'd learned something with Duo: Don't judge from first impressions.

"I guess you're her," the boy said, smiling. "You're pretty cute, even if you don't think so yourself. My name's Ranma. Yours is?"

"Jeminie. Jem is fine, though," I grinned wide. "And these are my companions, if you didn't notice. This is Heero, Duo, Quatre, and Wufei. They have been teaching me the ways of the soldier."

"Jem, what are you doing?" Heero asked, his monotone clear as a bell. 

"Nothing of grave importance," I answered. "As if these guys are X Force soldiers." I rolled my eyes sarcastically at the very thought.  
"X Force?" Ranma stepped forward on one leg and stared at us. "What do you know about the X Force?"

"We're going to stop them," Wufei answered harshly. "That's what. Another of our companions is seeking the information we need to infiltrate it now." 

"The only problem is that these four don't think I'm ready to go into the base, so while he's out researching, they're teaching little old me the ropes," I said modestly. "Honestly, it's easy work so far. Stuff I've done since I was little to keep myself from being bored. But I need a little more challenge in the hand-to-hand category."  
"I'm almost a master myself," Ranma said. "Maybe a spar?"

"Quatre, what do you say?" I asked him. "After all, it's your house."  
"What do you mean?" Nabiki asked incredulously. "We can't leave father and the others all alone, Ranma!"  
"Oh, yeah," he sighed.  
"Oh, sis, you could go watch after the old guys," Akane growled. "Me and Ranma can go help train this wimp of a girl."  
"Wimp!?" I shouted. "Now see here, I ain't no wimp!"

"Don't get her started on it, please," Duo begged, on his knees before Akane.

"Okay, okay, okay," Akane sweat dropped. (AN-The first one...I'm impressed, normally it's sweat-drop-central in my life.) 

"Let's just get going before things get tangled up," Ranma said, scowling. "We've got a little bit of explaining to do."

"Explaining?"

***

Umm....I cannot believe this has dragged on this long. Another chapter after this one. Maybe I oughta just keep this loaded up as I go instead of spacing the updates....


	6. Spars and Trowa's Report

I guess I'm just gonna keep loading this because I sure as anything don't want to leave this off at anything short of a cliffhanger. I don't like to leave them any more than you guys wanna see them. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or Ranma 1/2

__

Orbs of Emerald

Chapter 6: Spars and Trowa's Report

***

We had dropped by Ranma and Akane's house to pick up a few changes of clothes and explain to their parents and others where they would be, especially considering that it had to remain a secret. The entire family, including a strange panda who could write in kanji, agreed to the proposal of the two of them staying at Quatre's mansion.

Under a sworn oath of privacy of knowledge, we swapped our "stories", so to speak. The five of us explained to Ranma and Akane what was up with everything. They were both surprised to find out that the four boys were the infamous Gundam Pilots and equally shocked at how young they all still were (AN-If Heero is 16, can someone please tell me how old each of the other boys are? I'm going off total memory here, including on the Ranma cameo appearances. Which actually comes out with an interesting story all together.) and their different personalities. I suppose if anyone really stopped to think about it, most people would think that _all_ of the Gundam Pilots would be like Heero: cold, ruthless, and mechanical.

"So, what's up with having two Ranmas around and where'd the girl one run off to?" Duo asked, voicing all of our silent questions.

"Well...that's sort of hard to explain," Ranma said, looking off out the window. "During my training in China, my dad and I ran across the Forbidden Lakes (AN-It is lakes, isn't it?) and, uh...well..."  
"I've heard of those," Wufei said quietly. We all looked at him and he continued for our sake. "Legend has it that each of the lakes has a curse on it. If you fall in the Lake of the Drowned Cat, for example, every time you're doused with cold water, you turn into a cat."  
"What does that have to do with....oh," Quatre blushed, realizing what I had not. "Sorry, that's gotta be rough."  
"Tell me about it," Ranma rolled his eyes.

"What?" Duo asked, asking my silent question.

"I fell into the Lake of the Drowned Girl," Ranma answered grimly. "So every time I'm doused with cold water, I-"  
"-turn into a girl," I finished, laughing silently. "Well, at least you didn't fall into the cat lake or the tiger lake, right?"

"I wish I had," Ranma moaned. "Anything but the drowned girl lake."

"Ah. I think I'm glad we moved to Japan and America and not China, then," I said, trying my best not to crack up again. "It would have been pretty awkward if I happened to fall in the drowned boy lake." Akane grimaced, looking like she had just imagined that to herself. "I'm guessing your dad fell in the panda lake, am I right?"

"Yeah, how'd you guess?" 

"It's not every day you run into a panda who can write in perfect kanji," I muttered darkly.

***

"Thanks again, Ranma, it was fun," I grinned as I mopped my brow with the back sleeve of my new Chinese gi. It was soaked in sweat already, but I couldn't have had more fun in the spar against Ranma. He had been about as challenging as Heero at first, but Akane had dumped cold water on him, turning him into a her. He fought quite a lot better after that and I found my challenge in him quite easily now.

"I enjoyed it as well," she smiled. "But do you think I could have some hot water?"

The entire afternoon had been dedicated to spar after spar against the newcomers. Duo and Quatre didn't mind, and neither did Heero or Wufei. Both the latter were watching the fights closely. I had an educated guess that the former two were watching the videos from earlier that day.

However, I found out that they had actually been cooking a very large and delicious dinner for the seven of us. We ate, then "drove" the two home, promising to drop by sooner or later again. Both Heero and Wufei had been quiet, even more-so than usual. I was certain it was because of their extremely freaky encounters with women that day.

"Jem?" Wufei asked once the two guests had left. Heero, him, and I had gone to drop them off and were now on our way back. Duo and Quatre had stayed behind. It made me a little nervous to be with the two soldiers alone, but I brushed it off carefully.

"Yes?"

"Remind me never to judge women again," he shook his head roughly. His hair went flying because he had let it out of it's ponytail.

I smirked. "It's a done deal, Wu-man."  
"Don't call me that."  
"Why not?"

"It's bad enough Maxwell does it."  
"All right, all right, I won't start a trend with calling you Wu-man," I grinned. "Wufei's better anyways." 

The rest of the trip was in silence.

***

"Okay, Trowa, the transmission's secure," I said into the radio. It was a month after the silent one had left and Trowa was reporting in for the first time since he's infiltrated the X Force's base on his own. "So, what's up?"

"The X Force is focusing almost eighty percent of its army in locating and retrieving two stones called the Orbs of Emerald," Trowa said, jumping right to the point. "They've got two leaders called Admiral and Dirken, but beyond that, I don't know. The Lieutenants and the one Captain are the only ones allowed to be in their presence unless a cadet is called in there otherwise. And they normally don't come back."  
Quatre and I exchanged glances. This was bad if the X Force was murdering their own cadets. It could mean that infiltration was dangerous. 

"According to local rumor, the Admiral has prophetic abilities capable of finding the location of these stones through his dreams. The first is described as thus: Rolling rocks of Indian red. The first gem hovers above a rock approximately three feet wide and seven feet tall. I think it was actually saying it was buried underneath, but that's what it says. The second one is a lot stranger. It hovers south of flowing hills of gold and copper grain and north of a tiny sand dune and two large mountains of sand a greater distance away. The whole thing is sand."  
"Emeralds don't grow in those kind of conditions," Quatre commented. "They grow in limestone and sandstone caves, not in the desert."  
"Yeah, I may not know much about precious stones, but that doesn't sound the ideal place for them to be," I agreed, thinking. "But you know, it may be a riddle of some sort."

"Think on it," Trowa intoned. "How is the training going?"

"Well," Wufei grunted. "She should be combat-ready in another month."  
"Only a month?" Trowa cocked an eyebrow. I should have had a camera ready, because Duo and Quatre were goggling at the screen like two crazed baboons. I suspected Trowa was like Heero in the way of expression. He showed none. "That seems a little short notice."  
"She is stronger than most," Wufei shrugged slightly. "She is no weak woman."  
"Wufei..." I warned playfully. "Better hush up about the weak thing or I'm gonna call Ranma and Akane."  
"No, don't!" Wufei shouted quickly, causing me to smother a giggle. It was hilarious to see the normally-calm Chinese boy so worked up because of two girls. Of course, not many girls other than myself, Ranma (when in girl form), and Akane could defeat him. 

"I'm sorry, but was that _fear_ in your voice, Wufei?" I asked sweetly. He regained full control over his features and stood up straight.

"No, no, of course not, what would ever make you think that?"

"Nothing," I shook my head. 

"You know, Jem," Wufei said, half-thinking to himself aloud. I was shocked by this, he never really thought aloud nor did he really call me by my name, know what I mean? "We never did teach you how to swim." My eyes widened in shock before I shook my head and made a sarcastic comeback.  
"Yeah, your point is?"

"That will be our goal tonight," Heero intoned. "All of us. A swim is a good idea." I blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. Heero _never_ did anything _willingly_ with Duo or me. It just wasn't in his system. There was something fishy going on around here...

"I will speak with you again in a month," Trowa droned over the radio. "If I find any more information about the Orbs, I will inform you immediately."  
"Okay, see ya later, Trowa," Duo smiled and waved. The connection was severed.

"Get in your suit," Wufei ordered me. "I expect you at the beach in fifteen minutes, Jem."  
"Okay, okay, keep your shirt on," I grumbled, storming up the stairs, still mildly shocked at him calling me by my name. 

"That means you too," Wufei growled at Duo and Quatre. The blond and braided one nodded quickly and were off like a shot had been fired.

"Ready?" Heero asked the Chinese boy.

"Ready. Operation revenge is under way," Wufei smirked evilly.

"Mission accepted," both intoned in unison.

***

What was up with those two? First they barely speak to me other than to order me around, then they just out-of-the-blue suggest we go swimming. Things just didn't add up. Tugging the modest bottom of my suit up, I also tugged at the strings in my head, trying to figure out what was up. Something sure was, 'cause I don't think those two would ever really work together for anything.

I pull the top over my head and jerked the hemline as far as it would go while still covering me mildly well. Looking in the mirror of my room, I felt my face heat up just from looking at it. Why did these things have to be so tight? Oh, yeah. So they don't come off in the water and reveal much more than I bargained for. Still, this wasn't exactly what I'd had in mind when I told the saleslady to give me a _modest_ suit.

Oh, well, it didn't really matter. What's the worse that could happen? It wasn't like any of these four were perverted, like my uncle Rich had been before he died in a car crash. If anything, they were precisely the opposite, especially Quatre. I still remembered the way he'd been blushing when I still had a bullet wound in my side.

Chuckling, I pulled a large towel from the rack in my room and wrapped it twice around my waist, giving me a mild cover for my slightly muscled legs. My throat welled up and I gulped forcibly. I still remembered the short little dress I'd worn when I had been playing the "aunt" in the mall. That thing had been embarrassing. Major-league embarrassing. But I was still slapping my thighs in laughter every time I saw the look on Heero's face late at night with Quatre and Duo. We'd watched it just last night, and the thought of Heero's dumbfounded person on the video was enough to make anyone start laughing again.

Except, of course, Heero or Wufei. I think Trowa may get a kick out of it when he'd finally get the chance to see it, but I doubt he'd do much more than smile at it. The boy was just as stoic and emotionless as Heero, without any of Heero's Perfect Soldier Death Glares. I'd been on the receiving end of that Death Glare only three times. All of which were when I beat him in a spar. Sore loser, I suppose.

A knock at the door alerted me to a presence.

"I'm dressed, you can come in," I called out the door as I pulled my hair back in a French braid carefully. The door opened and clicked shut behind whomever it was. He stood quietly, and I felt eyes watching me as I finished the braid with a bit of blue string. It was far from matching the suit, but I didn't really care about fashion enough to care about something so trivial. Smiling, I glanced toward the person who had entered.

"Hey, Duo, what's up?"

"Nothing," he shrugged. "I'm just a little suspicious. Heero and Wufei aren't exactly the type of people to want to go swimming."  
"Yeah, I know what you mean," I frowned. "Is that all?"

"Hmm?"

"Never mind. Let's get going while it lasts, before they change their minds."  
"Yeah," he smiled. 

"You look nice in that," I pointed at his suit. "It matches your eyes."

"Thanks," he blushed lightly, but only just so. "You look great, too. It compliments you." I smiled sweetly and walked past him, pulling open the door. I placed a hand on his back and shoved him gently out the door.

"Don't flatter me, Duo," I said as soon as we were outside. "I know quite well-"  
"What are you two waiting for?" Interrupted Quatre from behind. He smiled at us both and wrapped one arm around each of our shoulders. "Let's go." He walked ahead of us, leaving both me and Duo shocked. Quatre was acting weird too. What was going on?

"Are we the only two sane ones left in this house?" I asked, an eyebrow cocked.

"I think so," Duo shrugged. "'Cause I sure as anything know I'm remotely normal, but those other guys, I don't know." He ran a hand through his braided hair, not stopping as he reached the end of it, now hovering just above his lower back, but continuing until he had brushed through the imaginary four inches that had been trimmed.

"You miss your hair, don't you?" I asked, giggling as he blushed.

"Guess so," he chuckled. "Come on, before the crazy ones get mad." 

***

Heero stole silently through the water, headed for his and Wufei's creation, called simply the _Revenge_. They had both discovered the video tapes Quatre had recorded at the mall about two weeks ago. Neither mentioned it, but slowly they came up with an idea. There was one thing all three of the perpetrators would be scared of, regardless. 

One thing they'd built a rather convincing model of using scrap metal and wire and circuits and batteries. Finally, they had completed it the night before. Now it was time to put the second phase of Operation: Revenge into full action.

Heero gave one final stroke before reaching the edge of the manmade sea of Quatre's private colony. The window as his guide, he dove beneath the turmoil of waves and into the airlock he and Wufei had used to work on their creation. 

Pulling out the radio in the cramped cockpit, he spoke.

"Are we in position?"

"No. I do not know what is keeping them. Jem and Duo are still inside. Quatre went in after them," Wufei answering into his hidden mike. "Are you sure this is going to work, Heero?"

"If it doesn't, we are both dead," Heero answered grimly. Both knew the power of Jem's rage firsthand, and she would no doubt call upon her allies for assistance. Wufei and Heero may have been a formidable team, but against six well-trained martial artists, it was fully hopeless.

"Then we will have to succeed, won't we?" Wufei frowned. "They are approaching. When I give the signal, launch."  
"Roger."

***

This next one is kinda angst. Jem almost dies. She doesn't have any clue what the thing is that almost kills her is. And she...well...read on.


	7. Shark

I don't know what else to say. Shark week is on TV and it makes me think really weirdly every time I watch something on the Discovery Kids channel...

So, here's my weirdprank that I came up with for Heero and Wufei to play on the others. However, you ought to know that Heero isn't perfect despite his perfect attitude.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.

__

Orbs of Emerald

Chapter 7: "SHARK!"

***

"I still don't trust them," I muttered as Quatre pulled us out of the house. "There's something up here."  
"Why would Wufei and Heero pull any kind of stunt?" Quatre asked. "Neither are very skilled in pulling pranks, and they have no reason to."  
"Unless..." my eyes widened as it dawned on me the possibility. There was no way. We'd hidden them so well...how would Perfect Soldier and Wufei be able to find them?

"Unless what?" Duo turned around and stopped me with a hand, staring me in the eye. The intimidation of that simple act was enough to make me speechless.

"Jem?" Quatre waved a hand in front of my face, snapping me out of my reverie.  
"Unless what, Jem?" Duo repeated.  
"Unless they found the tapes," I whispered, staring at Wufei up ahead over Duo's shoulder. "What if they found them?"

"What?!" Duo screeched, his voice almost as high as mine when I'd played the aunt. "How could they have, we-"  
He was cut off by two quick hands.  
"Duo, if they haven't, do you want to release the fact that we did it?" I hissed frantically. He shook his head against my hand and we both released him with a sigh. 

"Sorry, but we hid them so well, how could they possibly have found them?" Duo asked, this time his voice was hushed.

"I don't know, but things don't add up unless they did," I iterated. "It may also be a ploy about the little threats with Ranma and Akane."

"But they wouldn't be sore about something that trivial, would they?" Quatre said, worried.  
"I wouldn't put it past them now," Duo growled, his hands on his hips.

"Neither would I. We'll just be cautious from now on," I said, still staring at Wufei, who looked like he was about to run over and crash our little party. "Come on, I think Wufei's getting annoyed." We continued as though the stop had never happened.

"What kept you?" Wufei asked. "Get in." Well, so much for names. Duo and Quatre waded out till they were about waist deep, leaving me on the shore, looking around. I was scared, what did they expect me to do, just jump right in and hope I could dogpaddle back? I knew how deep that water was about ten yards out and I did not want to be that deep in water unless I could swim and swim _really_ good.

"Come on, Jem, it's not that bad!" Duo called from his place five yards out.

"Easy for you to say!" I shot back. "You know how!" I didn't want to let on that I was frightened. The deep, dark areas of the world had always scared me, for one, simple reason. In the depths of darkness lay secrets. Wonderful, marvelous, dangerous secrets. Secrets I didn't like any more than I did lies and crimes.

"Get in, cadet," Wufei ordered. "Unless you are frightened of a little water." His voice sounded even more malicious than ever, but it was probably my imagination. Yeah, just my imagination.  
"Fine," I growled. "I'm not scared." If I didn't like lies, then why was I lying to my instructor? I may not like him, but I sure as anything trusted him.

Didn't I?

My body gave a full tremor up and down my legs and spine as I stepped timidly into the tiny, lapping waves. It was freezing! How did they expect me to swim in such cold water? It had to be down in the negative Fahrenheit! 

But, not wanting to make Wufei any more angry than he already was, I continued out, ever so slowly. The waves continued to lap at my feet, but as I got farther and deeper out, my body got used to the cold, embraced it, and let it go. The cold water now wasn't any more cold to me than perhaps fifty degrees. A major improvement.

"I wonder where P-Perfect Soldier is," I muttered, stuttering a little as the water hit me a little higher than I'd anticipated, sending a frigid wave down my spine.

"I don't know," Duo said, putting an arm on my shoulder. "Don't worry about him, he's probably off somewhere cleaning his gun. He does that a lot." I smiled and shrugged it off.

"Yeah, you're probably right," I said. "Okay, to business. How do I swim?"

"Well, first you gotta learn to float," Quatre said, joining us in his pale blue trunks. His usually-neat blond hair was plastered to his head and was looking quite unruly. It made me laugh just to look at him, but I didn't have time as I suddenly found myself without ground beneath my feet. Duo had swept my feet out from under me!

I choked on the salty water for a few minutes before glaring at Duo, who was hanging onto Quatre not to fall in himself.

"All right, that's it," I roared loudly. "That does it, buddy-boy, you're goin' down!" With that, I leapt from the water and slammed against him, knocking him into the water as well. He came up coughing on the water and laughing at the same time. 

"I guess-" he was cut off by a loud shout from Wufei.

"SHARK!"

"Shark?"

"Shark?"

"Shark?"

I looked at the other two quizzically, back to Wufei, whose eyes were maniacally wide and his mouth hanging open like a beached fish. He looked like one too, as he splashed like a madman to get out of the water. What the hell was a shark?

"Wufei, what are you talking about?" Quatre called to the Chinese boy. "There aren't any sharks in this water, it's a man-"  
"Shark!" Duo's eyes went wide in horror and suddenly he was off like a shot had been fired again. He dove into the water and didn't resurface until he reached the shore, panting as he looked out over the small "ocean" at something. "Jem, Quatre, get outta there!"

"Duo, what are you talking about?" Quatre asked, following the braided one's train of sight until he, too, saw whatever it was that was scaring the other two so badly. "Come on, Jem!" He grabbed my arm and gave two firm yanks toward the shore before taking off himself.

"Jem!" Duo and Quatre both called from shore. Neither were chancing coming back out there. Like the stupid fool I was, I stood there, trying to see whatever it was that had scared the former Gundam pilots so badly.  
"What the hell's a shark?!" I shouted at them, absolutely confused and not as terrified as I should have been, as I found out much later.

Before they could answer, however, I found out precisely what a shark was. It was gray and white, almost completely made of triangles. I'd never seen so much geometry in one creature. It had a triangular snout, triangular fins, even its eyes were angled. What was worse than all of that, however, was its teeth. Razor-sharp, skin-ripping teeth. 

I found out what a shark was only too late.

"Help!" I shouted to the others, my eyes wide as I caught my sights at my first and probably last shark as the mouth opened and the teeth embedded themselves into my skin. The shark swam with me in its jaws, toward the back of the "ocean", its teeth tearing even deeper from the momentum of its jaws. 

A plum of crimson water fell around me as I was dragged far below the surface. I held my breath for as long as I could, but finally could hold it no more. Water rushed into my lungs, where only air was supposed to go. The entire thing made me drowsy.

I began to slip away into sleep. The darkness was so comforting, so much more than the pain that I felt in the light. Tears slipped through my eyes, but was immediately washed away by the water that shrouded me in its blanket of soon-to-be soothing darkness.

The blackness of the depths held serenity and peace and tranquility, more than the light ever would. So this was what it was like to die. It wasn't as bad as most made it out to be. I chose the black night over the white day and it swallowed me in it's grasp before I could think it fully through.

***

Heero frantically pressed buttons and pulled levers. He had to get out, get to Jem before she died of blood loss or drowned! The cramped cockpit finally was filled with suddenly great amounts of water, even as he took his deepest breath. Stupid machine, how could it have malfunctioned like that? This wasn't supposed to happen!

The water outside the organic-mechanized monster Wufei and himself had created was a giant cloud of deep red. Heero searched through the salty depths for the source of it, knowing if he didn't save her soon, she would perish in the sea that hadn't meant to be.

Finally, he found her. He grimaced in the water upon seeing her legs, both of which were caught in the knives of the shark. He forced the jaws to open, using all of his remaining strength to free her from the pressure. Then he slid the knives from her legs, each releasing a new plum of blood into the water as it slid sickeningly out of her.

He would hardly expect Jem to forgive him after this one. She had barely done so after he had shot her. But wait...why did he care if she forgave him or not? She was just a girl, wasn't she? She was just someone he was helping to train so the six of them could save Earth and the colonies from themselves again. 

Wasn't she?

As he broke out of the barrier between water and air, he gulped in the life-giving oxygen and held Jem above the water as well. She would need mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he realized grimly as he swam for the island in the middle of the small "ocean". She would not be happy when she found out.

The small island that was in the center of the tiny ocean of Quatre's estate was actually built for Heero. It had been a small plot of land, eroding away from lack of plants. Quatre had built a small cottage there, however, along with several trees and grasses that were planted everywhere. Quatre had made it just for him, when he needed to be alone.

Reaching the island, Heero laid Jem flat on her back and began heaving a small amount of his weight to her chest, producing a large amount of water to come out of her mouth. He flipped her to her side to allow the water to drain before making sure she was breathing and her heart was beating.

She wasn't breathing. 

"Breath, darn you!" Heero growled to himself. He knelt down and breathed carefully into her mouth with his own. She coughed as he righted himself.

She was breathing on her own. Heero breathed a silent sigh of relief and scooped her up into his arms. He cradled her carefully and walked into the cottage, setting her on the old sofa there on top of a blanket. He gathered some clean water, soap, and other things and began to tedious task of cleaning the wounds, thirteen total, the worst of which being in her thighs.

He finished cleaning her wounds and bandaging them. Then he carefully moved her lower legs around, finding the right one broken. He found a bamboo stick from outside and used what remained of his Ace wrap to set her broken leg.

When this was done, he dried her off as best he could and tucked a blanket warmly around her chin. He stared at her, lost in his thoughts.

Jem was so small and frail. He hated seeing her like this. Without the shines in her green eyes and the sparkle of pink in her cheeks. Her attempts in making herself have a bad attitude were failing and she seemed to know it, for she was being like that less and less.

But somehow he knew she was still angry with him. Angry over the loss of her brother and father. She seemed so happy-go-lucky on the outside, but he knew that inside was a world of turmoil, uncertainty, and fear. He didn't know how he knew all this. He just did.

This realization brought back the painful memory on the night of Mariemeia Khushrenada's "death". He had known that Releena was ready to give up her life for the sake of peace and had risked it by shooting the place where she, Mariemeia, and Dekim were located.

When he failed to complete that task, he had used what little strength he'd had left and shot Mariemeia. He hadn't really, he had spared her. He had destroyed the demon within her, the demon that craved power, but had left the innocent child there.

Remembering Releena brought back painful memories. The day he had failed to kill her, as he had failed to kill Jem. The days she was with him, knew him, even though they had never really spoken. She had known and understood him while all others did not.

And now she was gone. Releena Peacecraft was no more. He had indirectly killed her too. Even though he had vowed never to kill again, with the assassination of Releena, he would again. He knew he had gone through more than any sixteen-year-old should, but he would have to endure more if Releena's wishes were to be found again.  
Remembering this, he was once again haunted by the little girl and her dog. But a new ghost to Heero's past reared its ugly head, a shared memory between himself and Jem. The day another innocent child had been nearly murdered had it not been for a sister's helping hand, and then was still in vain to his death only years delayed.

"Why must I be pained by shadows?" Heero asked himself, his monotone haunting the child that still yearned to come out of himself.

***

I had heard Heero's plea, even though I still feigned sleep. He had saved me. Why? It was his fault I had nearly died and it was his fault I'd nearly drowned. Now he'd saved my life. Why did he care whether I lived or died? Was it because they needed me? No, that wasn't it. He'd already made it quite clear that they didn't need me any more than they needed anybody else. Then why did he do it?

I decided to make my consciousness known. Eavesdropping without meaning to was one of the small crimes that I had learned that I felt most guilty of.   
"We all are, Perfect Soldier," I managed to croak out. Was that my voice? It was so weak and strained, it didn't sound like me at all. My eyes creaked open, the lids heavy with weariness. I began to sit up but couldn't make it and fell back in agony to the pillow he had laid there for me.

"You are weak," he intoned. "You should rest."

"I don't want to," I growled, scowling up at him. My expression softened as I saw that his eyes held a pain that was much, much worse than my own physical pain. "You didn't have to."

"Didn't have to do what?" he asked, one eyebrow raised about a millimeter. It was more than a nanometer, the boy must be in real shock if his face held that much expression.

"I know you saved me," I grunted as I lifted myself up a little higher on the pillow, pain racking my chest with every labored breath. "From that thing. Whatever it was. The others called it a shark, but the only way-" I winced as another fire lit itself in my legs as I had attempted to use them to sit up. I forgot they had been in the thing's "mouth".

"The only way..." he prompted, the words not really having much meaning without their proper tones, but I knew what he was getting at.

"The only way you could have saved me in time was if you were controlling it somehow," I said, smirking. "You guys found the tapes, didn't you?"

"Yes," he answered. "We did not intend to injure any of you. The machine malfunctioned."  
"You were only getting revenge," I said, chuckling. "You were only being human. You made a human mistake with a human-made machine."

"Human?" I sensed the slightest amount of surprise in his voice.

"Yeah," I nodded my head as I attempted to sit up again. I gave a small cry of pain, the least expression I could hold in as the pain rocketed down my thighs again. Through my watering eyes that held every expression of agony, I smiled. "You were being human, Perfect Soldier." I gave another attempt at sitting up, but finally gave up with an exasperated sigh.

"If you wanted to sit up, you could have asked," Heero said, amusement clear in his blue eyes. They lit up like something I hadn't seen in him since...No. I hadn't seen that look of pure laughter in his eyes since he had enjoyed teasing me about going back to sleep with the wound he'd given me in my side.

"Sure. Why not," I threw up my arms. "Can you help me sit up, Heero?"

He gave a small start. 

"That's the first time you've called me by my name," he said quietly. I cocked my head at him, thinking...

"That's weird," I said, shaking my head. I just gestured around me, letting him know without words that I still wanted to sit up. "Please?"

"Sure." 

With that, he took my upper arms in his warm, calloused, strong hands and pulled me firmly yet gently into a sitting position. I felt tinges of warmth spread from his hands through my arms and shivers that went down my spine. I didn't know whether it was from the fact that it was cold or if it was from him.

Was I falling in love with the Perfect Soldier? Why? He was so mean to me at every given point in time, he never smiled in his life, he had destroyed what little remained of my life, and he was teaching me to be like him: Perfect.

"You are cold," he said, pointing out the obvious. He pulled the blanket up around my shoulders more carefully, his hands brushing against my skin as he did so. His arms were so warm and powerful and his voice was so low and soothing...

NO! Snap out of it, Jeminie Kinde, this is the man that nearly killed you and your brother, has killed millions of others, piloted one of the Gundams, and kept a war going for more years than I could count! He'd almost succeeded in smashing the Earth into tiny bits, almost destroyed several colonies, don't let your mind wander! 

"What did you mean?" he asked, sitting down where my legs had been.

"Huh?"  
"When you said that. 'We all are'."

"Oh. Because we all are plagued by shadows," I answered as though it were common sense. Obviously he lacked it, for he cocked his head lightly in confusion. I shook my head with a knowing chuckle and continued. "Everyone has their own shadows of the past that chase them down and haunt them until they are finally defeated."  
"What do you mean, defeated?" he asked. This was a new experience in his eyes, I saw. He'd never really thought of this. He was confused and lost and sought the aid of myself like a lost little boy trying to find his way home. 

"Some shadows...you can destroy them by overcoming your fears," I answered with a smile. "I've defeated one of my shadows before."  
"Which one?" he asked.  
"My fear of heights," I answered. "I used to be so scared to be even only three or four feet off the ground. So my brother took me hang-gliding. I've never been afraid of heights again. But..." I looked around to make sure his ears would only hear this. "Everyone has a shadow that follows them, even now. No one ever defeats all of their shadows. The bravest person in the world is said to face their fears head-on, without backing down. It's okay to be afraid. It's not okay to give up because of it."

"Who taught you that?"

I looked down at his words. He had struck a nerve, a very deep one. 

"Jonathon."

Silence fell. The dull throb that raced through my legs kept me company as he got the courage to speak again. It amazed me how much Heero Yuy could easily kill a man, but could not have the face to speak to another about whom he killed, however indirectly.

"I apologize," he said at last. "I should not have delved so deep."

I glanced up and saw that his eyes were troubled now. He was so easily read if one knew where to look. The turmoil within him was easy to pick out. Heero was a good person, I now saw, a person tainted by war. War does that to people. That's what Duo said. 

"No," I smiled. "You didn't. And Wufei was wrong. You have had the pleasure of having to apologize. At least now you have."

Heero closed his eyes softly and nodded, a quick breath escaping his mouth. I'm sorry, but was that a _laugh_? Did Heero Yuy, Perfect Soldier, just _laugh_? I did not dare to hope that my imagination had not run away with me. Silence fell again, but it was a comfortable silence, an understanding, of sorts. We had connected, become friends without speaking.

No, I realized. Heero had been my friend since day one. He'd teased me and was cold toward me, but that was just his way. Now I understood what Jonathon had meant when he'd told me to go and make a friend. A friend sticks closer than a brother. Now I fully understood the quote. Quatre, Duo, Heero, even Wufei, they'd all become my friends over this past month. I suppose that's what I got for trying to ignore fate, as my brother would say.

"What was he like?" 

Heero's question surprised me so much I nearly fell off the sofa on which we sat. And would have had it not been for his quick-as-a-flash reaction. He replaced me in my sitting position carefully, as though I were an antique china doll. It made me a little mad that he treated me that way, but I brushed it off gently.

"You mean my brother, right?" I asked as I panted to catch my breath. His answer was a nod. I studied him with all the scrutiny I had within me. Slowly, I consented. "All right. I suppose it's all right. He won't mind." Heero's eyes flashed confusion, but I continued as though I hadn't noticed it. "He was a lot like Duo, in many ways." 

Heero's expression seemed to darken, making me laugh.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing," I shook my head, tears of mirth in my eyes as I continued as though it hadn't happened, once again. "He had the same chocolate-brown hair, the same clear-blue eyes, the same mocking-death attitude. But he had a sense of justice and honor, like Wufei. And an aura of innocence, like Quatre. A quiet form, like Trowa. And a hidden love for the battlefield. Like you."  
"He sounds more the Perfect Soldier than I," Heero said, a firefly light of humor in his eyes.

"But Jonathon also had a strict belief in fate, destiny, chance, and names," I shook my head as I ignored Heero, reminiscing my brother more than explaining him. "He said I should have been called Phoenix or Rose because he said I always knew how to grow up from my ashes of disaster and become a rose."  
"But every rose has its thorns," Heero added, his monotone back.  
"Are you mocking me?" I asked seriously.

"Yes." 

"Then you will pay!" I shouted uproariously, and lunged at him, forgetting my legs completely.

To my surprise and Heero's, I did not suddenly collapse in absolute pain, but continued with my self-proclaimed mission of getting him. It was then I found out that Heero Yuy was _ticklish_! I knocked him to the floor, intending on pouncing his shoulders, but he suddenly shook completely over when I touched his sides.

I pressed my own fingers against his chest and, well, let him have it! Tickle, tickle, tickle! And it was then that I not only saw Heero's first actual-factual smile, but heard his true, honest-to-goodness _laughter_. The poor, dark-umber-haired, navy-blue-eyed Perfect Soldier didn't stand a _chance_ against me. He was pinned in his own uncontrollable laughter.

Suddenly, with amazing strength and agility, I found myself in the same position as he started tickling _me_ instead!

***   
Don't ask me where the tickling part came from. It's an inside joke between me and Sarah.


	8. Breaking Hearts

Now we start getting to the start of the core plot. Although this is a set of different stories all together, I think the title describes it pretty well. And I've almost completed the story. It's so awesome, I've got it made! Oh, and there are a very, very few hints as to the end of Sarah's Yin-Yang Theory, if you're reading that too. But nothing too bad.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.

__

Orbs of Emerald

Chapter 8: Breaking Hearts

***

"You _did_ _what_?!" Duo shouted upon hearing Wufei's full explanation. "How could you and Heero do such a thing, Jem could be _dead_ out there right now and it'd be all your _fault_!"

"I realize that," the black-haired Chinese boy said quietly. 

"Then why'd you do it?" Duo asked angrily. Nobody messed with the god of death and lived to tell the tale! Nobody!

"Duo, save the blame for later, we have to find them," Quatre said quietly. "Come on, we'll go out in the speedboat."  
"I'll sweep the coast for them," Wufei said. "With the way the tide is, they should have washed up if worst came to worst."

"Right," Quatre nodded. "Come on, Duo. Let's go."

"Yeah, I'm coming," Duo snarled, still glaring daggers at Wufei. This was definitely not the way to get on the former Deathsythe pilot's good side.

***

"Wait a minute!" Heero yelled (AN-O_O. He yelled? Heero Yuy has laughed, yelled, smiled, and shown actual emotion so far. What other surprises await us?). "What happened to your wound?"

"My...omigosh!" I shouted and turned to stare at my legs and hips. I patted them down where my bandages were, feeling no pain whatsoever. My throat didn't hurt anymore, nor did my head or my chest. But how? "H-How...it...what..." I growled and slapped my forehead with the palm of my hand, then started unraveling my bandages (muttering incoherent shocked things, most of which even I couldn't make out), including the bamboo-stick-splint, finding very pale scars where the "teeth" of the "shark" had dug in my skin. I thumped my leg where the bamboo had aligned my broken leg.

It was completely healed.

"That is not natural," I shook my head, my eyes wide. "That is just not...even with _my_ metabolism rate, it should have taken _weeks _to heal wounds of such magnitude! Why do I have such a healing capability of only myself?! Why? It doesn't make any _sense_!" I choked on my own sorrow in my confusion, staring at my hands and feet. Tears welled up in my eyes, my own bewilderment completely and utterly consuming me.

My body shuddered under itself as the sobs racked my body. "Why? Why?!" I screamed in the pure agony of the heart, not the physical pain one would expect. I had completely lost it now and there was no turning back. No backing down. I was an unstoppable force of nature, lost, confused, scared, among other things.

"Why?" I sobbed finally, my loud, ear-splitting cries finally dying into pitiful sobs. I had completely and utterly forgotten Heero was there. My knees came up to my chest and my head was buried in my thighs, upper arms shielding my face as they kept my knees in place.

"Jem...stop...please," Heero said quietly, his monotone dangerously low this time. There was feeling there, but it wasn't happy. It was more...angry. Why was he angry with me?

"No!" I shouted at him, jumping quickly to a standing position and facing him off. "I don't care what you say, Heero Yuy, I am not a Perfect Soldier like you and I never will be! I'm lost and scared like I've never been before!"  
"Of course you're not a Perfect Soldier," he said, sounding slightly, ever so slightly, exasperated. "Of course you're scared."  
"What would you know about being afraid?" I cried, my eyes dangerously alit and my teeth grit threateningly. I was a force to be reckoned with and it seemed Heero Yuy did not understand who was the more powerful here. "How can you understand my fear when you yourself have almost no connection to your own feelings?"

"Because..." he answered calmly. "I know fear. And I know it on the same level as you do. I'm just as scared as you are, Jem."  
Well, that just shot me down and splattered me into the pavement right there. He had not only proved me wrong, but he'd revealed to me something I'd never quite considered the boy to have. A fear of something more.

"What do you mean?" I snarled, finally finding my voice. "How can you be scared? You're not lost! You know where you're going! You've got all your friends right over there, you've never tasted the fear of death because you were trained against it!"

"Just because I was trained not to show fear does not mean I don't feel it with any less sincerity than you do!" he shouted suddenly. He was angry. He was definitely angry. No. I take that back. Heero wasn't angry. He was positively furious. But why? He suddenly went quiet. "I don't have all my friends any more than you do."  
"I never had any friends up till now," I growled. "I only had my brother and my father. My father hated me, and hated me with a passion that I can not describe nor explain to this day. My brother was the only person who ever has and ever will care about me. That is why I so willingly threw my life toward this stupid jest for peace when I know it will only be shattered all over again."

"You're wrong, Jem," Heero said, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're wrong."

"How am I wrong, Mr. Perfect Soldier?" I mocked, scowling.

"Because you've got four friends right here on this colony who care about you more than you'll ever know," he answered. "Quatre, Duo, me, Wufei, we all care about you. We always will."

"What?" my eyes went wide. He was admitting it? He was admitting that he cared about someone other than himself? Heck, he never even really cared about himself, come to think of it.

"You've changed us all," Heero said. "Brought out the best in us when we thought there was no good left."

"I made you talk," I shrugged, smiling sweetly. "And laugh. And smile. I'm glad I got something outta you." I sighed and sat down. "But I still don't understand. Why do my wounds heal so quickly?"

"That answer I do not hold," Heero stated. Great, back to the monotone. Well, it was great while it lasted...though I did miss the sound of his laughter. He was very good at it when caught perfectly off-guard. "Jem?"  
"Yeah?"

"Can I tell you something?"

"Go on ahead."

As soon as he opened his mouth to speak, he was interrupted.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" 

***

"Sir!" shouted Lieutenant Nakami as he raced into the Admiral's chambers. "We believe we've found the location of the first Orb of Emerald, on the outskirts of one of Mars' colonies, sir."

"Very good," Admiral Kinde nodded. "Send Captain Rei in at once."  
"Sir, yes, sir!"

"Rei, Nakami, it is time for our descent to the colony of Mars," Kinde stated importantly. "Are you prepared?"

"Sir!"

"Then let us proceed."

Once on the planet, Nakami, Rei, and Kinde marched toward the cave that was indicated on their charts. Once Kinde reached the point, he knew that this was the place in his dream.

"It should be underneath this rock," Kinde pointed to it. He and Nakami gathered an old piece of pipe and a rock. They used the rock as a fulcrum and lifted the rock, allowing Rei to gingerly grab the tiny green stone that was underneath.  
"Wow..." Nakami said in awe. "Is this the Orb, Admiral?"  
"It is," Kinde was just as surprised as his lieutenant. The Orb was beautiful, about the size of a baby's tiny fist. It fit easily into his hands, a shining perfection. It seemed very dull, however, where the black core of the Orb was. But for some reason, Kinde seemed to...he didn't know any other way to describe it..._feel_ power radiating from the stone. 

"The legendary Orb of Emerald, the legend that was lost in time. It is said that many myths of the past were actually true, but over time it becomes so ludicrous that people stop accepting it as the truth," Rei said, smiling. She knew this was so for a lot of legends and myths of their time, but she did not need to tell them that.

At least, not just yet.

"Legend or not, this is what we've been searching for," Kinde said firmly, placing the Orb within a small, neo-titanium chest he had had built just for this. "One down. One to go."

"One down," Rei whispered. "And one to hope." She hoped that when he found Jem, his memories which Dirken stole from him would return. She suddenly felt a wave of intense pain in her legs, head, and chest and the world around her went dark. However, due to the fact that she was a goddess, she could still think, even while unconscious.

__

She has been attacked. By what? The Orb that connects us so is crying as it slowly whittles away its strength. Rei began to slowly flow small amounts of healing powers toward Jem, knowing that she would die soon if she did not get out of the water. Sensing everything happening around the Orb, Rei knew that the pilot of the Gundam Wing Zero, Heero Yuy, the Perfect Soldier, was the only one near enough.

__

Time to toy with fate.

She reached out her senses. Yes, this would be the best idea. If Jem had someone else who loved her, then perhaps the Orb would be safe if Jem and Jon were not reunited soon. A friend sticks closer than a brother. The old texts flashed in her eyes. But a best friend is the brother God forgot to give us.

Rei wished she could have such a friend. Loneliness hit her as she now-bitterly watched Heero give the Orb's Keeper CPR. She wiped the feeling away. This was no time to feel jealous! The fates would decide her future, not herself!

But she controlled the fates, even if not all the time. And she did not know she had just given them a direct order.

***

"Duo!" I cried happily. 

"Yeah, who'd you expect, the Grim Reaper?" he asked, laughing at his own joke. I smiled and punched his shoulder gently.

"You're no Grim Reaper, Mister-Coffee-Company," I said, grinning now. "It's good to see you!" I threw my arms around his neck and hugged his shoulders. "Were you out looking for me and Heero this whole time?""

"Yeah, you so I could rescue you and Heero so I could give him a knuckle sandwich for trying to kill you again," Duo said, growling the part about Heero and glaring at said person. If looks could kill, Heero would be ashes right now. Of course, if looks _could_ kill, Duo would have been dead long, long ago from all of Heero's Death Glares.

"Duo, calm down," I chuckled, keeping him at bay by keeping a firm grip on his arm. "Heero wasn't trying to kill me again. He and Wufei found the tapes, like I thought back on the beach."

"He found the...uh-oh," he ducked behind me quickly and pointed at me, a scared voice talking now frantically. "It was her idea! She did it, not me!"

"Oh, shut up, Maxwell," Heero and I both said at once. We looked at each other while Duo looked back and forth between us.

"Okay, whatever just happened, I don't wanna know how," Duo shook his head once, his braid following suit. "Let's just go, Quatre's waiting for us in the boat."

"All right, then," I smiled brightly. "Let's go greet Quatre. Then I wanna try and swim back to shore."  
"You're not afraid?" Heero asked. Stupid monotone.

"Of course I am," I said. "I face my fears when I can. Head-on, if I must."  
"I'll help ya, if you-"  
"I will assist her across," Heero interrupted. 

"Thanks, both of you," I smiled. "Duo, why don't you go tell Quatre what's up, then follow us in the boat? That way, if we get tired or I start sinking, you can be right there. Hmm?" I winked jovially. 

"Okay, whatever you say," Duo walked back toward a boat I could see just down the stretch of beach. He glanced back and smiled. _Looks like Heero found a new girl after all. Lucky him, he always gets the pretty ones._

"Why did you wanna help me?" I asked as I slipped into the cold water again. 

"I am the strongest swimmer," he replied, not really answering the question. "Watch me. Then try yourself." He slipped into the shallower water and reached out as if to take something in his hands, then pulled back hard, reaching out the same way with the other arm. As this happened, repeating in an endless cycle, his feet kicked as if in a ballet. Just watching him swim in the water like a little fish with such grace and ease made me want to try it.

I slipped into the water and tried to follow his movements. I moved forward slightly and smiled. I did it! But the instant I stopped moving, I sunk.

"Don't stop," he called back, raising his voice slightly. 

"I sort of figured that out," I spat out some water and resumed my attempts. I started after him, mimicking his moves. I sucked in a deep breath and went beneath the water, doing the same as before now. It was much faster, but I couldn't hold my breath forever.

"Hey, Jem, you're doing it!" Duo shouted from the boat as I resurfaced. "Great job! Hey, Heero's not a bad teacher after all!"

"Yeah, I agree!" I shouted back, laughing as I turned around and mimicked the same moves backwards. Hey, this was kinda fun! "Thanks, Duo!" I returned to my previous ways and moved faster to catch up with Heero.

"Hey, Heero," I said as I swam up beside him, matching his strokes with mine. "Tell ya what. Why don't we race to the shore? Makes it a whole lot more fun."  
"More challenging, you mean," Heero smirked. Wow, a smirk. This guy was actually using his face for something other than eating!

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes. "Well? Wanna?"

"Sure. Why not," he droned. "Ready?"  
"Set..."  
"GO!" we shouted in unison and were both off like a shot. Well, I'd shouted, anyway.

About ten minutes later....

"I win!" I shouted as I stood up on the beach, exhausted. I collapsed to the sand and laughed as Heero came up and sank to the ground beside me.

"You have bested me."  
"Oh, don't be a sore loser, Heero," I said, punching him lightly in the arm. He made no facial expressions. "It was just a game."  
"Game?" 

"Yeah. Game. Do you know what a game is?" I was shocked, to say the least. Did these boys do _nothing_ for fun?

"Not really." That surprised me even more. He sounded...there was no other way to describe it...Heero Yuy was being _sheepish_. And was that just the faintest hint of _pink_ in his cheeks? Or was the whole thing my imagination?

"Okay, when we get back to the house, me and Duo are teaching you what a game is and how to really have fun," I said, my voice turning into the one I'd used on Jon many a time. I'm in charge, you're not. So there. "And Heero? You may not have all your friends. But you've got four of them right here."

***

"Fun lessons?" Duo cocked an eyebrow from me to Heero and back again. "You want me to help you teach _him_ how to _play_?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Basically. Oh, come on, Maxwell, the kid has no idea what a _game _is, for pete's sake! I mean, good grief! He probably doesn't even know how to laugh!"

"That would explain why Heero never smiles," Quatre said. "But why would you want to teach him how to play?"

"Look," I explained. "If we can get a hold of the kid inside, I'm sure we can make Heero Yuy a better person."

"Do you really think Yuy can do it?" Wufei asked, sitting in a corner. He was still sort of sulking over the failed "mission" he and Heero had set out to do. Well, the overkill in it anyway.

"I think so," I said, thinking to myself. "I really think so."

***


	9. A Legend

This has a lot of explanations at the end of the rest of the basic plot and the reasoning behind the name of the Orbs. It's a pretty interesting story, now that I think of it. I like this story a lot, even to read myself again and again. And even though I have to in order to double-check things, I am drawn into the story itself and find it to be even better a story than before.   
I'll explain the significance of my names next chapter. Yes, they actually have a significance. Isn't that interesting?

Disclaimer: I don't own it. I don't own Gundam Wing. But I wish I owned Duo! I love that braided baka and I _hate_ what I do to him next chapter. Um...did I say that aloud? Well, you can't possibly find out yet that I-

I'm shutting up now.

__

Orbs of Emerald

Chapter 9: A Legend

***

It was a month later. We hadn't made much progress in teaching Heero how to be a kid again, or be one in general if he never had been. But my training was still going well. At least, that's what Duo and Quatre told me. Wufei refused to say anything on the subject whenever I prompted him.

It was time for our second report from Trowa. I was getting my computer skills a working as I coded and routed the message.

"The line is secure, Trowa, whenever you're ready," Quatre said, "manning" the talk station.

"They've found one of the Orbs," Trowa said. "It was in a cave on Mars. The celebration is still going on. I'll have to return soon as to not attract attention."  
"Have you been able to gather any information on the Orbs?" Quatre asked.

"A lot. It was an old legend that said if you caught both Orbs together, their holder would be able to have an infinite number of granted wishes, similar to that of the old Arabian folk tale, the magic lamp thing. It also gives the power to rule over this world, controlling the fates, destiny, and chance. If the wrong person gets their hands on it, the ultimate power of choice will be eradicated from the system."

"Then we're not dealing with any ordinary gems, now are we?" Duo growled. "This mission is going to be a major headache."  
"You said it," Quatre agreed. "So, what do we do?"

"Take the time to plan. I don't think the X Force will be able to locate the second gem for a while with its description," Trowa said. "So, how is the training going?"  
"Training has ceased," Wufei answered. "Jeminie Kinde is now a full-fledged soldier among us. And no weaker than any man alive." He smiled at me as I looked at him in utter shock. "We will begin planning our strategy. We will contact you in two days to report on our status."  
"Good luck, Wufei. Trowa out."

"You didn't tell me the training was complete," I said to Wufei with my hands on my hips.   
"I was planning on a surprise. We will celebrate tonight," Wufei said stiffly. "The four of us have been preparing for this for quite some time now."

"The _four_ of you?" I cocked an eyebrow. "You mean Heero and you have helped? Why? You probably didn't get a celebration for the completion of your training."  
"We did, actually," Duo smirked. "And they were spectacular!"

"What Duo means to say is we didn't," Quatre said, chuckling. "But you completed your training in record time. No one has ever completed a training like that for one person in only two months' time."

Well...basically...it was a party. A party that did not just include my four trainers, either. They invited other people there as well. I hadn't expected other people to come. People that I'd never in a million years thought I'd meet. 

Lady Une, the commander of the Preventers. Miss Noin, Mr. Miliardo, Sally, Hilde, people who had become quite famous with the sudden abrupt peace. Even Trowa's sister, Catherine, came, though her brother was absent. I was utterly torn between being star-struck and embarrassed that the four boys had invited them.

"You actually let him talk you into coming here?" asked Mr. Miliardo.

"I'm glad he talked me into it," I said, shrugging as a blush graced my cheeks. "Duo is pretty persuasive when he wants to be. But I would have been dead by now anyway. He's a good person, Mr. Miliardo."  
"Please, Zechs," he said. "It was a pleasure meeting such a fine young woman."  
"Thank you," I nodded my head slightly in a bow to be polite. "I just hope we can stop the X Force before they do anything drastic."

"As we all hope," said Miss Noin as she joined us. "I hope he isn't being a bother to you."   
"Not at all, Miss Noin," I smiled. "A perfect gentleman, as all good soldiers should be."

"Well, I hate to say this, but I'm going to steal him for a short dance," Miss Noin said and winked at me.

"Sure. Go on ahead," I smiled. "There aren't many times you can these days."

So I was left to my own devices. I sank into the shadows, watching Miss Noin and Zechs dancing, as well as Lady Une and Quatre. Catherine had convinced a very-nervous Wufei to dance with her as well. Duo had found a partner as well in Sally. Miss Hilde was off to the side, watching carefully, a jovial smile on her face. She walked toward me a few seconds later.  
"You should be proud, Jem," she said. "You've accomplished many things in a very short period of time."  
"I am."  
"I'm sorry about your brother," she said. "He was one of the finest soldiers I saw leave that day. I had to watch when they were killed many times to try and distinguish the cause of the explosion. He passed by the camera very close."  
"He did not look scared. Did he, Miss Hilde?"

"No. Like any good soldier, he was calm and ready. He died with honor. That is all one can expect from a soldier," she knelt down to my eye-level, which was about four inches below herself. "I understand what it's like to lose someone like that. I lost my own family in the war as well."  
"Have you defeated their shadows?" I asked, closing my eyes in an attempt to stop tears. They would not come if I concentrated enough. I recalled all of my training. They did not fall. I kept my eyes closed to allow them to dry first.

"Shadows?" Miss Hilde seemed surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Never mind," I shook my head. "It is nothing. Nothing of importance." She nodded slowly and righted herself.

"I'm sorry, but I must go," she said. "Take care, Jeminie Kinde."  
"Back at ya," I said, my voice holding the same cold, dreary monotone that Heero's did. Speaking of Heero...where was he? The Perfect Soldier was no where to be seen. I took a quick glance around before turning to leave. The others were occupied. I needed some time to think about all of this. 

Wearing my pale blue evening gown, I walked out into the forest, searching for a place I could sit down by myself where the others wouldn't find me. I walked aimlessly, just thinking over and over again about the Orbs of Emerald and their awesome, terrible powers.

"What if someone ambitious got their paws on them?" I thought aloud. "It could mean the end for us all. Whoever had the gems would probably make all the trained soldiers become part of a master army or something."

I soon found myself walking along the beach. My movements were purely instinct as I soon found myself among a large area of rocks that suddenly ended at the water's edge. I found a flat one near the dome that was at the end of the small ocean and sat down, staring up at the stars. I used to love looking at them. So bright and beautiful and so far away.

Each were so far out of my reach. I knew I would never be able to catch up to one, even if my life were lengthened a million years. Another star fell, reminding me of the wish I'd made.

"Please, stars," I whispered. "Let me find my destiny."

"I see you had the same idea," said a voice, breaking into my thoughts.   
"Heero!" I shouted in surprise, standing up quickly. In doing so, I stepped on the short train of my evening gown and tripped backwards. He leapt forward, lightning-fast, and caught my arm, righting me.

"You should be more careful," he berated me.

"I know...I'm sorry," I looked down sheepishly. "Thanks."

"Don't let it happen again," Heero said. "I won't always be there to rescue you."  
"Sure," I shrugged and sat down again. He joined me, the size of the rock forcing him a little closer than should have been comfortable. But it wasn't unpleasant. It was...soothing. His very presence was calming. But why? He said himself he wouldn't always be here to rescue me. Why would I feel safer when he's around?

"You were thinking about the gems, weren't you?" he accused of me, staring out at the stars instead of looking at me.

"Yeah," I admitted, nodding. "I mean, what if someone like that Mariemeia chick got their hands on it?"

"Mariemeia was not selfish. It was Dekim. He was the one who started Operation Meteor." Well, this was news to me.

"What do you mean? What was Operation Meteor?"

"What?" He sounded shocked, but only a little. I suppose that much emotion in his tone meant he was shocked beyond belief. He regained control, then continued. "I thought perhaps...but I suppose not."  
"Thought what?"  
"I had thought that Duo or Quatre had told you what our original mission was about. I guess I was wrong," he glanced at me, then back out at the stars. His eyes closed, as though he were remembering something from long, long ago.

"Our original mission, the reason we were trained to pilot the Gundams, was Operation: Meteor. It was simple: We go down to earth disguised as meteors and wage guerilla tactics against the Earth Unified Nations. However, we were each 'freed' in one way or another to fight with our hearts, not with our missions. I still followed my orders if they were not too extreme."  
"So...that was why...that's the whole reason you..." I couldn't bring myself to say it.

"Dekim Barton created the entire thing as a setup to conquer the Earth," Heero looked at me darkly. I knew he was mad about it. "He was training the true Trowa Barton's niece, Mariemeia, to rule it as soon as it was conquered. However, two scientists shot and killed the original. Our Trowa, the one we know, took on his name for security reasons. Had it not been for that, Operation Meteor would have been a success."

"You guys didn't have names?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"Our names are our code-names. We were never really given names," Heero shrugged. "I never really knew my mother or father. I don't know if I had any siblings."  
"So you could quite possibly be related to any one of the people you've killed and you wouldn't even know it," I said softly. "I'm sorry, Heero."  
"Why?"

"I know it seems better not to have known your family," I said quietly, closing my eyes quickly to shield tears. "But if I had never known Jonathon, never known my father, I would never have been able to live in this world. My father may have hated me, but he was still blood. My brother may have killed himself without meaning or honor, but he was still my brother. And I live now knowing that he rests in peace."

"Releena said the same thing." Heero seemed to be in a daze. He was staring off into space at nothing in particular and his voice had that faraway feel to it. Like he was living in a dream.

"Releena?" I asked.

"She said that too. When we thought Zechs died," Heero still spoke in the same tone. "She said that. She said that she lived now knowing that he rests in peace."

"Blood is a hard thing to argue with," I said, shrugging. "Even though my mother died when I was young, I still loved her." I paused before asking a very deep question that I knew would rub salt into a wound, but I had to know. "What was she like? Releena, I mean."  
He gave a sudden start and nearly fell into the ocean. The same reaction I'd had when he'd asked about Jon. Strange...and yet comforting. Why was his every move so reassuring? I righted him carefully.

"I suppose she wouldn't mind," he said softly. I gave a small start. That was almost the same thing I'd said...

"She was calm and graceful, everything Wufei thinks a woman should be. She had soft blue (?) eyes and kind of blond hair. A few shades lighter than yours. She wore it long," he closed his eyes. "She was stubborn. Especially when it came to matters of peace. She finally understood the meaning of the fight in the end of the battle with Mariemeia. Releena was willing to give up her life for everything if it would bring this world to peace. But her death has only wrought more war." His eyes darkened and his teeth clenched. 

"Don't worry, Heero," I placed my hand over his tense fist calmingly. "We'll carry out her legacy and win the peace and freedom back. We'll bring peace back to the Earth Sphere, or we'll die trying."  
"More likely the latter," he chuckled bitterly. It wasn't the happy laugh I loved to hear from him. It was a cold, sad, utterly-defeated laugh of a hollowed soul, one who needed to have their spirit replaced.

"More likely or not, Heero," I said calmly. "We'll do it. All of us together." He suddenly changed the subject again.

"Did we ever tell you which Gundams we piloted?"

"No, why would it matter?"

"It matters," Heero said, a no-questions tone to his voice.

"Why?" I asked. "Were they alive to you?"

"They were. They were our friends and allies as well," Heero sighed. "Zero..."  
"ZERO?!!!!" I shouted. "YOU piloted WING ZERO??!!!! The one with the crazy system that feeds your brain statistics?!"

"True."

"Well, no wonder you're so monotonous," I said, feeling exasperated. "With all that data being put into your brain, there was no room for emotions to show!"

"I suppose."  
"I know Duo piloted Deathsythe," I said thoughtfully, calming myself down after the initial shock. After all, Heero had believed Zero to be his friend. I hoped he thought of me in the same way, at least as much as he thought of Duo. "I can't believe it, looking back. That kid back there used to be Shinigami. I mean, talk about your over-the-head nicknames."  
"He was most certainly the Shinigami in that suit," Heero said, using his without-a-doubt voice again. "Trowa piloted Heavyarms."  
"Heavyarms? Mister Frozen-Stiff Silent One with that many weapons all at once? No wonder the kid doesn't say much more than you do!"  
"You would be silent too, if you had as many memories erased as he had," Heero said in defense of his friend.

"Yeah, and look at you, Trigger-Happy."

He ignored me. "Wufei piloted Shenlong. He preferred to call it Nataku, though." (AN-Can someone tell me the significance behind _why_ Chang called his suit Nataku? Or tell me what it means? Thanks.)

"Why?"

"Search me," he shrugged. "And Quatre piloted Sandrock."  
"Now that I can understand," I said, nodding. "I mean, Quatre seems to me to be a very level-headed person who can stand a little heat."  
"What about me?"

"You are far from being level-headed," I said darkly. "Until you can crack a joke, or at least smile at one correctly, I can hardly believe you're human."  
"You already said I was acting human."  
"Yeah. When you pulled a prank in revenge for my little prank," I said, smirking evilly. "That was being human. Using a monotone while you're talking with your friends, that's not human."  
"Neither is a broken leg healing in under two hours," Heero shot back.

Bad move. Extremely bad move.  
"What did you say?" I growled at him. "Look, I can't control how quickly my body metabolizes and heals itself, all right? Don't say I'm inhuman because my body heals a lot faster than normal."  
"Then don't say I'm inhuman because I don't laugh at jokes," he muttered back. Stubborn little baka, wasn't he?

"You can control that. I can't," I snarled again. "Look, Heero, things are going to get shaken up pretty soon, and we'll be dealing with things that could wipe out this entire dimension." I took a deep, steadying breath and continued quietly, knowing that it would be of greater impact. 

"I don't wanna have any regrets if this whole thing destroys the universe. Promise me, my friend, that you will be careful. Our lives are just as precious, no, more precious, than those stupid Orbs are."  
"Only if you promise the same," he replied.

"A promise it is, then," I smiled. "Thank you, Heero."

"What for?"

"For being my friend."

***

"So," Wufei sighed as he leaned on the table to regard us. Heero and I had said nothing more after that, only walking back to find the others waiting for us. We weren't scolded or anything, just got weird looks. Nobody asked where we'd been. After cleaning up, we had all went to bed. Even Duo, against his normally-talkative nature, had been silent. "What do we do?"

"I don't know," Quatre sighed. "We could go searching for the gem ourselves and let Trowa handle things in the X Force's base. According to his email, there are more soldiers and bases than we previously expected."

"What are our priorities?" I asked, working this out logically. Like a math problem. If you start out with finding what you know already, you could end up at the solution. Pure and simple Algebra.

"Well," Duo said, thinking aloud. "We need to keep the gems separated at all costs right now."  
"Did we ever get the full legend from Trowa?" I asked.

"Yes," Heero answered. "His email."

"What does it say?"

"You want me to read it aloud?" Quatre seemed surprised as he looked up from his laptop, where he had been reviewing the total information that Trowa had sent us through his research.

"Yeah. If it helps."

"Okay..."

__

When the Earth was new and only the most basic life-forms existed between all dimensions, there was a portal known to all as the Dimensional Gates. It was guarded by the great goddess, Hawatari, who let creatures roam freely. Then, a dark day came.

The worlds were all plunged into the deepest darkness, the beginnings of man frightened and alone. The Supreme Ruler over the Spirit Realm, Kai, gave each dimension a center of light, which his underlings were told to guard. There was a curse upon the lights.

In the dimension known simply as Z, they were seven seemingly-normal stones, which, if gathered together, granted a single wish before disappearing again. These were not guarded by gods, rather it was several young men and women who guarded their Earth with all their light and power. 

Most dimensions had such stones, all of which held the power to grant wishes. However, it was given unto this, our dimension, the gems to end all gems. Hawatari was given them, a goddess whose heart was pure and mind was steady.

She called the simply gems, never giving them a proper name. They were guarded by her own self constantly at the Gates, never leaving her sights. For these, the most powerful of all the gems and stones given to each dimension, could give a second power, as well as infinite wishes. This second power was the power to control the fates, destiny, and chance, as well as prevent things from happening through the choices of others.

However, it was prophesized that the gems would leave Hawatari's hands and fall to Earth. If they find an evil's hand, as would be expected of man, this world would belong solely to him, without any resistance. However, if it should fall into a righteous person's hands, however unlikely it may be, they would turn into a god as well. It would be their choice, then, what would become of this our world and the Dimensional Gates.

"We're screwed," Duo said the instant Quatre finished. "All out. We're screwed! How can we fight something like that?! Huh? Tell me!"  
"Duo, calm down," I said softly. "Hey, Quatre, were there any other writings about this goddess, Hawatari? Like what else she controls?"

"Yeah. I won't go into it, but according to Japanese legends, she was said to also control the fates. She could also take human form. Some writings suggest she could have placed the gems within a Keeper, but they say it is highly unlikely she would do such a thing."  
"Why not? Sounds like the best place they could be to me," Duo countered off-handedly.   
"Not really. You see, Hawatari is sort of connected to these gems, now called the Orbs of Emerald. And if the Keeper's emotions were unstable, then the gem would gradually be destroyed by the pressure," Quatre looked grim.

"But wouldn't that be a good thing?" Duo asked, leaning back in his kitchen chair. "I mean, come on, if the Orbs are destroyed, won't we just have nothing else to worry about?"

"Believe me, you'd have plenty to worry about," Quatre replied, scrolling again. "Only you wouldn't be around to worry about it any more. If the gems disappear, so does our dimension. Poof! Disappeared without a trace, taking every last soul, dead or alive, with it. Lost forever." 

"So not only do we have to keep them apart," I said in conclusion. "We have to keep them from being destroyed." 

"That's the basic idea," Quatre nodded.

"Okay, we're back where we started from," Wufei scowled. "What do we do now?"

"Split up," Heero answered simply.

"Huh?" Wufei.

"Could you possibly elaborate?" Quatre.

"What do you mean?" Duo.

"It's perfect!" Me.

"Huh?"

Now all eyes were looking between me at one end of the table and Heero at the other end. All were confused except for myself and Heero.  
"Don't you get it?" I sounded exasperated, even to myself. "If we split up, one group can search out the remaining Orb, and the other can infiltrate the X Force with Trowa. It's the perfect plan! Nothing can go wrong."  
"Famous last words," Duo muttered. "Okay, now that we've got a rough plan, who goes where with who?"

"Well, we need a good fighter on both teams," I said slowly. "So Wufei, you go with one and I'll go with the other."  
"You should infiltrate," Wufei agreed. "Winner, you come with me."

"Yes," Quatre nodded in agreement. "And Heero and Duo can go with Jem."  
"Good idea," Duo said. "One question; how do we infiltrate the base? Everyone knows what we look like!"

"Point observed," I said, laughing superiorly. I'd already come up with a solution to this.

"What's so funny about that?" Duo asked. "We're sunk if we can't get in!"

"Oh, you didn't think I would allow you to go as you are, did you?" I asked, smiling. "I've the perfect plan."  
"What is it?" Heero asked.

An evil smile crossed my face.

"Um...Heero?" Duo said. "I've seen some scary things in my life. But her with that grin on her face by far surpasses anything I've seen yet."  
"She is frightening when she gets that smile," Quatre agreed. "I feel sorry for you guys. Come on, Wufei, let's start our search."

"Aw, come on, guys," I said, still grinning. "Where's your adventurous spirits?"  
"Back in my room, hiding under the bed," Duo answered, taking off like a shot. "And I'm going to join it!"

"Maxwell!" I shouted. "Get back here!" He complied instantly and was at attention before me in nanoseconds. 

"Maxwell?" Heero muttered in a whisper. "I think we're in trouble."  
"You said it."

Both watched grimly as Jem placed a small briefcase in front of each of them.

***

AN-Okay, so there is a good cliffhanger in this story, even though you only have to wait as long as your browser does to load the remainder of it.

Okay, now the meanings of the names in here.

Rei-Cold, cruel indifference.

Nani- What? A question.

Hawatari- Walking the edge of the blade.

Nakami-Interior being

Jonathon-Umm...that's my cousin's name, I promised I'd use him in my story. He is such a sweetheart, too!

Jeminie-Uh...I made up the name, it's actually a acronym for Jenny Emerald Matte at first, then Mini-Me, um...it's kinda confusing how my mind works. And the Yuy part of my penname does _not_ represent Heero at all, it's Your Universal Yume. I just didn't want to be called Jeminie Yud, that sounds too weird. Oh, yume is Jap for dream and Matte is Jap for wait. I have three favorite colors, Blue, Green, and Aqua, and I had to choose one for the middle of Jenny Matte because JM did not quite sound right...and you don't wanna read my rants, so move on ahead to the next chapter.


	10. Absense of Cricket's Chirp

I don't even know how I decided to call it this. I mean, you don't even find the mentioning until the chapter is almost at the end. Oh, well. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.

__

Orbs of Emerald

Chapter 10: Absence of Crickets' Chirp

***

"Ta-da!" I yelled triumphantly as I revealed my "creations" to Wufei and Quatre's approval. "What do you think? Can you recognize them?"

Both just stared from me, to them, and back again. 

"Jem?" Quatre said finally, his voice quite shaky.

"Yes, Quatre?"

"You can be a scary, scary person," he said. "Did you know that?"

"Yup!" I winked at him. 

Well, I guess I may have went a tad too far on Heero's clothes, but it was worthwhile. He did not look like Heero Yuy, not in the least. And maybe I cut Duo's hair a little too short, but he definitely did not look like Duo Maxwell.

What I'd done? Well...okay, I'd gone out secretly the night before and bought some new clothes, hair dye, and eye color contacts for myself and the boys. The plan had gone well, as I saw with the still-gaping Wufei.

"Are you sure you didn't just replace them with someone else?" he asked, finally shutting his mouth. I don't think he'd let many flies in, but the hanger had been there for a long time, so you never know...

I'd cut Heero's hair even shorter than before, getting the long, long bangs out of his eyes in the process. Then I had taken a comb to his hair, parting it over his right eye. Believe me, that would have been enough, but then I'd dyed it black.

That wasn't even the start of it. I had bought brown eye contacts for him. Even if he didn't change clothes, he definitely did not look like himself. His clothes consisted of simple blue jeans, white T-shirt, and a fine black leather jacket. Brown hiking boots covered his feet.

Not the typical green tank and tight black shorts anymore.

Duo now had shoulder-length hair. He looked like my brother, only too well, when I'd left the brown there. So I bleached his. (O-O; She really is evil. She cut and bleached Duo Maxwell's hair! Such a crime is this!) His normally-blue eyes were now green, about the same color as mine. To tell the truth, we sort of looked like identical twins.

I took that out of proportion with his clothes. He now wore a traditional polo shirt and khaki pants. Extremely reserved, especially with the polished black dress shoes. (Evil! Jem, you are so evil! *crying* Sorry, guys, I had to do it.)

"Ahh!" Duo screamed as I held up a mirror for Duo to look in. "Jem, what did you do?! I look like a freaking businessman!"

Heero scowled upon looking at his reflection.  
"I look like a cross between Wufei and Maxwell." His monotone was still there, but anyone could see he was furious.  
"At least no one will recognize you," I pointed out. "Hold on, I'll be right back. I've gotten some stuff for myself as well."

About ten minutes later...

"Jem!" Duo shouted. "You look like a punk!"  
"Of course, that's what I was aiming for," I said as I walked into the room. Tight black flare jeans laced silver studs down my thighs, held barely on by a tightly-cinched wide black belt on my hips.. Black boots shown only a tiny peak out from under the cloth. A silver spagetti-string shirt, covered mostly by a black leather jacket, revealed a small amount of my stomach. A dog-collar with silver studs was on my throat and I was reminded of it constantly as the two tags clanked together.

My blond hair was covered with a black, silver-studded bandana, my lips by black lipstick, and my face with various shades of silver and glitter. The last touch of the ensemble was my blue eye contacts, which made all the difference to me. I turned back to them and grinned.

"What do you think?" I spun around on my heel.  
"I think you've gone nuts!" Duo shouted. (AN-_-; So do I.) Heero merely stared at me, as did Quatre and Wufei.

"It works," Heero stated finally.

"Works?" Duo snarled. "Works?! Heero, I think you've gone crazy with her! Look at you, you-"  
"Oh, shut up, Maxwell," I said as I swung a survival pack over my shoulder. The same one I always carried, along with a few added items. "Let's go. Quatre, what did Trowa say about being stated into the X Force's military?"

***

We stood in a short line of new recruits in the holding area of the X Force's base. The three of us were obviously together, but since we looked so different from our usual selves, most people didn't care. A young woman, about a year older than myself, walked down the line. She was the Captain in charge of giving a sort of test to each one.

"Ah, a Kinde, how interesting," the woman said as she reached me. She hid a smile behind her clipboard. "The same last name as the Admiral, what a coincidence." I gave no start, as my training had kept me well away from, but my thoughts were a whole different story.  
The Admiral had the same last name that I did? Hopes rose and fell within me. Of course Jon hadn't survived, Hilde had said so herself she'd seen him perish with all the rest. I remained silent even as the turmoil of emotions within me continued.

"You three will be bunking with me," said the Captain. "Fall out and wait for me over there." She pointed to a small area of the deck. I took a half-step backwards, pulled an about face, and loosely walked toward the area. The others were right behind me.

"I wonder why she said that," Duo muttered quietly. "Does it really matter that you've got the same last name that their Admiral does?"

"I don't know, Don," I said softly. "But don't forget, we're here to serve our purpose." We'd come up with a small code before leaving, including new, similar names to take on. Heero and Duo had insisted upon me using my original last name. It wasn't common, after all, so I did.

"I know, Jen," Duo smiled. "Wouldn't it be cool, though, if he was related to you?"

"I highly doubt it," Heero said, throwing a warning look toward Duo. I had barely caught it.

"Oh, come on, Arrow, stop being a spoilsport," Duo replied.

"Stop it, both of you," I whispered. "This is no time to be arguing."  
"I highly agree, Kinde," said the Captain behind me. How'd she do that?? She was at least twenty feet from me not seconds ago! Despite my suspicions, I pulled to attention.

"My apologies, Captain," I said, saluting quickly.   
"Oh, please, call me Rei," she smiled. "Captain is only when things are formal. Follow me, we've much to discuss once we have reached the quarters."   
"Yes, ma'am," I answered, throwing a questioning look toward the boys. Duo shrugged and Heero scowled. I don't think he liked being confused very much. Rei began to walk normally and we followed suit, making sure to pay close attention to be able to get back to the hanger. If we needed to make a quick escape, we needed to be familiar with the route there.

Finally, we arrived at a single door. Rei pressed a sequence in the door and it slid open with a soft whoosh. I had watched the sequence. It was an interesting set of numbers, if one paid close enough attention. 0083. I wondered what it meant, if it meant anything at all. 0083 was when the Gundams first became well known to the public.

"I'm sorry to say this, but you must leave," Rei said as soon as the door slid back into place. "I know who you are. You guys can't stay here. Admiral Kinde will find you out before you can say 'Gundam'." Heero whipped out his gun and trained it on her as soon as the last word left her mouth.

"Arrow, stop it!" I shouted, tugging the gun roughly out of his hand. He glared at me a second before nodding. He reached to retrieve his gun but I pulled it from his grasp, staring at him. My temper was flaring and he knew it. He gave up, but not because of what Rei said next.

"As much as it is amusing to see your little game, I must insist," Rei said, chuckling behind her hand.   
"What do you mean?" I growled at her. "How could you possibly know?"

"Well, you might say that I knew you were coming. Long before you did. I still need to talk to Trowa, but I haven't been able to locate him. He is quite the recluse, I must say." She laughed again.  
"How do you know us, lady?" Duo scowled. 

"Well..." she sighed. "All right, I'll tell you. But only if you promise you'll leave."  
"Not a chance," I snarled. "Tell us now, _Captain_."   
"I am the goddess Hawatari of the Dimensional Gates, Guardian of the Fates, Ruler of Destiny, and Mover of Chance," she answered, with all the prestige I would expect from a goddess.

"Y-You're...but you can't...it's not-"  
"It is possible, and I can if I wish," she answered. "Please listen to me, Jem, I am no more your enemy than the Admiral. But if he discovers you, you will all be in grave danger. And I can't have you in such a position, especially not you, Jem."  
"Why especially her?" Heero asked, stepping in front of me. He guarded me with a hand, as if this girl, this goddess, Hawatari, was a threat. I forced him back with my own. I didn't need protection from her. She was on our side.

"Because," Rei sighed and sank onto one of the four beds in the room. "She is the Keeper."  
"The _what_?!" Duo yelled. "You mean to tell me that she is-"  
"Yes," she answered standing up and facing us. "Yes, I took the risk. I may have control over the fates, but I can't control chance. When I first placed the Orb within your heart, I had no idea your brother would leave you like that. I made him, a copy of yourself, so that you would have someone to turn to when your emotions destabilized, but..."  
"He died," I put in flatly.  
"No," she shook her head, tears shining in her eyes. "He isn't. He's right here, right on this station. He's lost all of his memories."  
"J-Jonathon?" I stuttered. My eyes went wide. My brother was alive? How could it be? Hilde had said...he'd. But how? "Is alive?"

"Yes. But you must leave here," Rei said, begging us with her eyes. "If the Orbs are joined, Dirken will discover the second's Keeper, and if that happens...this world and everything and everyone in it will belong to him. Including me."

"But Hawatari..." I protested. "If I'm the Keeper, he can't get to the Orb without me, right?"

"That's right, but-"  
"And if he can't get me, then he can't rule this world. The Orbs are almost back together for you to take them back to the Gates, can't you see?" I asked earnestly. "You can stop this whole thing by taking them back!"  
"I'm sorry, Jem," she shook her head, her eyes closed. "The prophecy must be fulfilled. I can't do that, I have to let destiny take its course. Please, listen to me. You must leave here. Forget about your brother, I will try and reclaim his memories and give him back to you, but you mustn't come back here."

"Why not fulfill it, then?" Heero asked.

"What?" Rei and I turned to him as one, both confused.

"Are you always this vague?" Duo joked, though he knew it true. (AN-My fav quote from Yu Yu Hakusho!)

"What do you mean, Heero?" I asked shrewdly. "Fulfill it?"

"The prophecy," Heero iterated. "If we join them together, their holder, be they good, would become a god. It's their choice what becomes of this world."

"You're forgetting one thing," Rei sighed. "Although you all have good _intentions_, none of you are completely righteous. What the prophecy means when it speaks of righteous, is that a person who has white hands, clean of blood, and an innocent conscience, regretting nothing in their life, can be the only Holder of the righteous prophecy."

"Guess you're right," Duo sighed. "What do we do, then?"

"Well..." Rei drawled out thoughtfully. "Jem could very much fulfill it all if she could face her fears of her brother and father. However, there is one secret in her destiny that must be fulfilled before she can be called completely righteous. A promise that Jonathon made to you the day he left, Jem."

"What do you mean?" I asked, bewildered. What had Jon promised me?

"Something that is staring you right in the face, dear," Rei smiled. "But you must go. You must leave here. If you succeed, Jem, I will know and you will know as well. We are connected that way."

"I don't get it," Duo frowned. "What secret? What promise?"

"She can explain to you," Rei answered. "I will escort you to your ship." The moment she opened the door, however, we were face-to-face with a lavender-haired man who gave Rei a death glare that would make even Heero whimper like a puppy.

"Well, Miss Nani," he said coolly. "It seems that you have betrayed us."  
"B-Betrayed?" she asked, in a very convincingly-innocent voice. She sure could act. "Commander Dirken, I would never-"  
"Of course you wouldn't, Miss Nani," he said, grinning. "But the evidence still stands. Among your new trainees is the Keeper of the Orb."  
"Commander Dirken, surely you don't believe that the goddess Hawatari would give the Orb a Keeper!" Rei cried, her voice sounding as surprised and shocked as anyone who believed that would. 

"I do," he answered. "And one of these three is he." He turned around and spoke to several soldiers, plenty enough to hold even all seven of us. "Take them to the holding cell!"  
"Sir!" crowed the soldiers with a crisp salute. He turned back to Rei.  
"We shall soon see the day that I rule this world, Rei Nani. And then Hawatari will have to bow to my wishes."

"Monster!" I cried out. "You cruel, twisted, evil man! How could you want such a thing? How could you?"

"Easy," he answered, turning to me with a smile that could wilt roses. "I'm a demon at heart." Blue eyes widened in shock. A demon? A _demon_? This man, this lavender-haired, black-eyed man, was in fact a demon? How could such a cruel twist of fate bring its hammer down toward me?

"Rei!" cried a voice. A very, very familiar voice. One I could not remove from my head if I tried, one that had told me in my dreams that I needed to be strong. "Dirken, what are you doing?!"

"Captain Rei Nani has betrayed us, Admiral," answered Dirken smoothly. "She tried to hide the second Orb from us by sending away its Keeper."  
"What?" he choked on his words and rushed past Dirken. It was then that I saw him. Wearing a white uniform with golden clasps and a high collar, scars crisscrossing his body, one arm obviously a prosthetic, but it was him. It was him, with all the worry and pain in his eyes that he'd had in his eyes when I'd broken down over his melted hand.

"Rei, how could-"  
"Jonathon!" I cried out to him in interruption, joy, and pain.

"Who dares interrupt me?" he growled, standing up straight. I fell silent. "Who? Speak now."  
"Jonathon..." I croaked through tears of mixed joy, confusion, and fear. He turned to regard me, everything an Admiral should be. Except his short stance and childish features.

"Who are you?" he asked, not angrily now, just...confused. "And who is Jonathon?"

"I am Jeminie Renai Kinde, of Earth and you are my twin brother, Jonathon Douglous Kinde," I answered forcefully.  
"No...no, you must be mistaken," he said, shaking his head. "The only family I had was killed by Mobile Dolls on Earth. Lieutenant Nakami assured me that-"  
"They thought I was," I put in. "And so did I. But...someone found me and took me away. Jon, you must remember. Do you? The day-"  
"That will be quite enough, Miss Jeminie," said Dirken darkly. "I don't take kindly to traitors trying to fill my leader's head with silly hopes only to dash them to pieces."  
"I am not trying to fill his head!" I shouted at him. "You're probably the one who destroyed his memories in the first place, there's no way-"  
"Stop, Jem," Heero said quietly. "If he does not believe you, let him be. Let him help this demon take over this world."

"But-" I started.

"Take them away!" Dirken ordered, interrupted my protest. A soldier grabbed each of my arms immediately.   
"Jonathon!" I shouted, crying. Why? Why didn't my brother believe me? Now that I'd finally found him and finally had revealed to him who he truly was, why didn't he believe me? Dirken's control over his memories must be so absolute that not even the closest to his heart could reveal the truth in his eyes.

"Jon!" I cried again, sobs breaking out all over again. I forgot every ounce of my training and fought to escape the soldiers' grasp if only to hold his broad shoulders in my arms again. If only just to kiss his cheek in a sisterly love to have him wipe it away in mock disgust, if only just to touch his soft chocolate hair and mess it up again.  
If only just to see his soft blue eyes again, see the light that had lit my path and my past for so very long. Just to see that great but rare smile upon his pinkish lips again. If only...if only to be his twin again and say something at the same time again. 

"Jonathon!" I screamed out, unable to stop myself. The soldiers that held me rolled their eyes as I reached back to the stunned boy and the sadistic man just to catch a small, faint glimpse of him again. Oh, my brother whom I loved as only a sister could, why couldn't you remember me, your sister, your blood, your friend for the length of your life? 

The soldiers dragged me along the floor, my black jeans catching the bolts in the floor, making the men lift me into the air to crash back down again, causing pain to run up and down my spine as my tailbone smashed roughly into neo-titanium floors. 

"Jem, pull yourself together!" Duo called from his similar position. "We'll figure a way out of this."  
"Easy for you to say," I muttered bitterly as they lifted me again.

"Oh, will you just shut up?" groaned one of the two men who were dragging me. There were three others surrounding my little group alone, and then two dozen more surrounding our entire group. The stupid demon probably foresaw the reasoning behind placing additional guards on myself and the two Gundam Pilots. There were only the two carrying Rei and one behind her, but with forty guards guarding four people, how could we possibly escape from this little armada? We would have to wait until information reached Trowa or we came up with some bright idea.

"Jonathon..." I whimpered as my tears began to subside, completely out of exhaustion.

"Hey, kid," said one of the soldiers. He looked pretty nice, actually, considering he was guarding me. He had kind blue eyes and dark, mysterious navy hair. "You really think Admiral Kinde is your brother?"  
"Would you forget your brother's face?" I growled in answer.

"No."  
"You've got your answer," I looked to the side, my anger being taken out on the wall as I attempted to incinerate it with my eyes.

"If he is, don't worry." 

"Why?" I snarled, glancing at him.   
"Because. I haven't forgotten my sister's face, either."

My expression lightened and I nodded once before looking away again. Maybe...maybe Jon would remember. Maybe. It was a tiny flicker, but it only took a flicker to light up my heart to hope for Jonathon's return.

We reached the holding cell and were each thrown in, none-too-gently, either. Me especially by my guards, as my spine crashed flat against the wall and threw my head back with a loud "thud" that reverberated up and down my torso. So much for the nice treatment the other guy had been giving me.

"You, Nakami," said the voice of Dirken. "You, Rodriegiuz, guard this cell. I don't want anyone coming out of it, you understand me?"

"Y-Yes, sir, Commander Dirken, sir," answered the same voice as the man who had spoken to me.

"Rodriegiuz?" prompted Dirken.

"Sir. I will guard this cell with my life, sir."  
"Good. In an hour, I will send for one of the three who were with the ex-Captain Rei," Dirken instructed. "I expect the girl first. If she is not the Keeper, I want her execution orders made out immediately following the meeting."  
"Execution, sir?" asked the voice of Nakami. "Don't you think that's a bit...uncivilized?"   
"This has escalated into a war, Lieutenant," Dirken scowled. "There must be no chance that she may escape and inform the Earth Sphere of our whereabouts."

"Sir."  
"Good day, Lieutenants."

Duo sighed, running a hand through his short hair. "So, what do we do? We can't let them execute Jem."  
"She won't be," Rei sighed. "The instant she gets near the other Orb, it will start glowing, as will the Orb in her heart. After that, I don't know. They have to get Hawatari to say the chant to exorcize the Orb before things can begin. I don't know if she will be able to resist the calling of the Orbs." She was smart. Rei spoke as if the goddess Hawatari was another person, to fool the guards, perhaps. But for some reason, I didn't think that Nakami would need it.  
"We still have to get out of here," Duo pointed out. "But how?"

"I don't know, okay?" I shouted unsteadily, like I was on the brink of insanity. I sat down on the bunk and held my head in my hands. Refusing to look even one of them in the eye, I stared at the ground, thinking about Jon. How could he not recognize me? How could he-  
"That's it!" I shouted, punching my left hand with my right fist triumphantly. I jumped to my feet and used the toilet paper (AN-You know, they always have a toilet and stuff in a jail cell.) to wipe the makeup off of my face and whipped the bandana out of my hair. I ran my fingers through my blond hair and took out the blue eye contacts quickly.   
"That is better," Heero droned, crossing his arms over his chest. "But how is it going to help?"

My excitement fell and my arms dropped into my lap, still holding the bandana, as I flopped down roughly onto the bunk. I tossed the bandana onto the ground hard and stomped it into the dust as brutally as I could before sighing and putting my head in my hands again.  
"Jem, stop it," Duo said quietly. "You're only making it harder on yourself."  
"What would you know?!" I shouted suddenly, hot tears rolling down my cheeks again. "You've never had a brother or sister before, you have no idea what it's like!" I sobbed violently again and my shoulders sunk and rose with each one. "None of you do." I whispered resentfully. I continued my little pity party for myself until I was rudely awakened again.

My shoulders were suddenly lifted roughly and my face along with them and I found myself staring into worried blue eyes. Instead of shouting, Heero spoke quietly. But those soft words had more effect on me than yelling ever would.  
"Stop doing this to yourself, Jeminie. It isn't your fault and it never will be. Pull yourself together, Jem, you're stronger than this. You're stronger when you're you."

If there had been crickets to chirp in the silence that followed, even they wouldn't dare to even try to break this. The taboo of eerie silence was not broken until Heero himself shook my shoulders.  
"Be the Phoenix, Jem. Be the rose in the ashes, with all its thorns."

Finally, he released my shoulders and stood back into the shadows, the quiet, Perfect Soldier that we all knew him much better to be. But that Perfect Soldier was human enough to be there when we fell. And he was there for me when Jonathon wasn't.

With that thought, I stood up again and threw my arms around him. He wasn't Jonathon, but he was close enough. Actually, he was farther than Jon now. He was more than a brother. He was the friend that sticks closer than a brother. He stiffened against my hold, then relaxed and patted me on the back gently.

"Let's get outta here," I whispered as I released him.

"Jem?" whispered a voice into the cell from outside.

***

Whoa...scary, scary, scary, I have the SCARIEST mind ever! Why did I do that to Duo? I love his braid, why did I cut it off?! I love Heero's low bangs and I love Duo's braid, I love his personality, why did I cut his hair?

Okay, breath in...breath out...Jenny needs to get a hold on herself again...Oi...this is getting closer and closer to the plot climax, I can't wait! I've already written the climax out, but it's getting so close! I'm almost done! YEA!


	11. Happiness

Okay, more surprises ahead, I won't bore you with another long author's notes, so let's get this rolling!

Disclaimer-I don't own 'em.

__

Orbs of Emerald

Chapter 11: Happiness

***

Dirken sighed as he watched the Orb he held in his hands glow faintly. One of those three was the Keeper, he could feel it in his heart. He had finally figured out that Jonathon's dream was not a place on Earth, rather was a person, a Keeper. 

The way that girl had spoken to him, it reminded him of Angel and Kylie. He hoped that she wouldn't be the Keeper so that he could get rid of her right away. He didn't like her attitude and he certainly hadn't liked the way her blue eyes had flashed, making her look like Angel so much it had ached in his cruel black heart when he'd recalled how close he'd been to having the black-haired Saiyan girl.

The way she had cried out for her brother like that, though...it had touched even him. To think that that little girl cared so much about the kid that she had just broken her entire pride out in the open like that. What was it about friends and siblings that people cared so much about? What was it that he, the mighty Prince Dirken, missed? Even from his own older brother, Dabura?

As Angel's Yin-Yang Theory had suggested, even his black heart held a little pink to it. However, there was no way he'd allow himself to lose again. He would rule over this and the Z world and all the other dimensions that had double-crossed him so long ago.

He would succeed, even if it killed him. Again.

***

"Jonathon?!" I asked incredulously.   
"Be quiet, sis!" he waved his hand frantically. "Nakami, Rodriegiuz, open the door, quickly!"  
"But sir!" protested Rodriegiuz.

"Look, that's my sister and her friends in there," Jon growled at them. "I was only acting when I said I didn't know her, now let her out! Dirken will figure out soon, hurry up!" 

"Yes, sir, right away," Nakami scrambled to get the key into the door.

"Sis, the mushy stuff can wait," Jonathon ordered as the door flung open. "Come on, this way. My craft is waiting. Rodriegiuz, can you cover for us?"

"Yes, sir," the man stood tall. "I would do anything to help retain our peace."  
"Thank you, Rodriegiuz," Jon nodded quickly, then began running quietly. His feet were so quick and nimble and silent that even those of us who had been trained to do this were impressed.

"Jon, how'd you figure out it was me with all the makeup on?" I whispered. "And without your memories?"  
"I've had my memories the whole time, Jem," he whispered back as he looked around a corner. "Thanks to a particular ex-Gundam pilot by the name of Trowa Barton."  
"Hey, our man got in deep!" Duo commented, laughing slightly.

"Duo, hush!" Rei scolded him softly.

We met no one along the path to Jon's spaceship, which was a miracle in itself. Rei and Nakami stood back and kept a lookout as we boarded, called the _Emerald Angel_. Duh, wonder why?

I don't know who was flying the ship, but we were on our way before anyone came along. Rei and Nakami boarded at the last second as the hatch closed.

"Who's flying this thing?" Duo shouted.  
"A friend!" Jon answered, laughing. "Trowa. Duh."   
"Brother, why did you hide for so long?" I asked even as we lifted off and the rockets flared.

"Because it would have become very, very suspicious if I tried to escape. Unfortunately, Dirken found out about my prophetic dreams before Trowa came and helped me revive my memories. I didn't even know my own Captain was actually the goddess Hawatari," he laughed. "I planned nearly this whole thing just so I could escape. With the exception of one thing." He blushed.  
"And what's that?" I asked, exasperated. "You ding bat, do you know how worried I was? I mean, come on, did you have to make me think you were dead for two and half months?!"  
"Actually, it was only two months and ten days," he pointed out.  
"I don't care! Why'd you do it!"

"Well...I sorta started having these weird dreams when we were thirteen," he shrugged. "The only reason I was so excited about the Gundam melting my hand was because I'd dreamt all about it the night before it happened. And that's also why I wanted to join the military because I knew I was destined to do it. Well...I think that Dirken wasn't supposed to be here, because in my dream, I died, but because I did, you met your soul mate and got married and had a kid and if I didn't, well...we both died."   
"So the whole thing was based on your _dreams_?!" I shouted. "Did you absolutely go bonkers or something, Jonathon, you idiot, you baka, you blooming fool-"  
"Jem, you can stop right there," Jon said, laughing. "I know it was a dumb idea, but I'd rather have died then anyway then live with the fact that dad didn't like you."

"Jonathon..." I muttered, shaking my head.  
"But he is right," Rei said. "He is what we call an anomaly. He knows what the fates have predicted and he knew right away that Dirken did not belong here."  
"What do you mean, he doesn't belong?" Duo asked disbelievingly.

"He's from the dimension of the seven Dragonballs," Rei answered. "He was locked away in a part of the dimension that was said to be inescapable, but since he is a demon, he was able to use his powers of body-hopping to escape it, though he left his body behind. He's been trying to destroy everything since he was born, but now he's a new goal; to take _over_ all the dimensions instead of destroying them, which he can do if he gets both Orbs in his possession."

"Okay, okay, can someone please explain this whole thing to me step-by-step?" Nakami broke in.

We did. 

"Oh."

"So _now_ what do we do?" I whined aloud.   
"We do what I told you to do in the first place," Rei answered as though it were obvious. "We make you a righteous person and fulfill Jonathon's promise."

***

Once everyone had calmed down and things had been explained, I set to the tedious and painful task of fixing poor Heero and Duo. Jonathon came over and offered his hand in the job and was put to work helping Duo regain his original hair color. I was working on getting Heero's dark brown hair back from his black.

"You were right," he commented quietly as he watched Duo and Jon work together, talking and laughing like excited schoolboys. They got along so well, even I was impressed. Jonathon normally wasn't so talkative.

"About?" I asked as I brushed the black dye from his hair. It wasn't often that Heero spoke willingly, so I took full advantage of it.

"Your brother. He does look like Maxwell." Throwing a glance toward them, I smiled and nodded. 

"You didn't think I'd forget what my brother looks like, did you?"

"You don't forget things very often to begin with," Heero countered. "So I am wondering why you did not know that your brother was acting." So that's it. That was why he was talking.

"Simple," I sighed. "He was always tricking me in one way or another to believe a thousand things that weren't true."  
"As in?"

"Well...one time he fooled me into believing that rain was actually angels crying," I smiled at the memory. "It was pouring outside and the thunder and lightning was quick and loud. He told me that the thunder was the angels' sobs and the lightning was their anger shot from their fingertips. He convinced me that if I ever went out in a storm, I would be killed and become a ghost."

"Why did he tell you those things?"

"We didn't have much else to do," I explained with a sigh as I brushed the last bits of black from his hair. I wished profusely that I hadn't cut it. His eyes were so blank and without emotion that it would make one cry just to look in them. "There were times in our lives that we wished we could die and go away forever, just to escape. But then we'd remember that we wouldn't be able to kill ourselves at the precisely same nanosecond and we might be separated. We always were together, until that day in Nara."  
"Nara...I regret that place every time I hear its name," Heero closed his eyes and refused to look me in the eye. 

"Don't, Heero," I said softly. "Don't. I don't. And you want to know why?"

"Why?" he repeated, sounding baffled.

"Because if Jonathon hadn't run to see you," I paused to take a deep breath. "I would never have met you and I would have never had the insight to be trained. And Dirken would have taken over this world long, long ago."

On the other side of the room, Rei watched the scene with a smile on her face. Already time seemed to have devoured her, but time between Heero and Jem and Jon and Duo had stopped almost completely.   
"Two steps closer to your goal, little Jem," Rei whispered softly to herself. "And two more for you to know." 

***

The arrival at Quatre's mansion was a grim one as we all stepped off the _Emerald Angel_ and headed inside, where we met with Wufei and Quatre. Both were shocked to see us, half-way back to normal and accompanied by three new people who they were not accustomed to. However, both were quite wary of Jon, because he and Duo looked like twins more than Jon and I did.

"Jem! Heero, Duo, what's going on? Who are these people?" Quatre asked, worried and fearing the worst. "Trowa? Are you back already?"

"Calm down, Quatre, it's not like this is the first time we've brought strangers back here," Duo said, laughing.

"Uh...actually, Duo, it is," I pointed out. I turned back to Quatre. "Sorry, but we didn't have time to send a transmission." I smiled smugly and pulled my now-shy brother over, his white uniform still quite imposing. "I would like to introduce my twin brother. This is Jonathon, better known as Jon."  
"Y-Your brother?" Quatre stuttered.

"It's a _long_ story, buddy," Duo droned out the word long. "Believe me, it's gonna take a while to explain that one."  
"And this is one of the X Force's ex-Lieutenants, I guess you'd call him," I laughed nervously. "This is Nakami."  
"And I am Rei Nani," she put in. "But I suppose you'd know me better if I told you my true identity. I am the goddess Hawatari. This is my human form." 

Wufei and Quatre both blinked repeatedly in surprise.  
"Don't worry about those things," Rei said off-handedly. "You may call me Rei. That is my real first name, after all. I suppose I should explain things, since I am the one who knows the whole story."

"Be my guest," I muttered aloud.

"Let's sit down first," Trowa suggested.

"Yeah, like Duo said, this is a long one," I grimaced. 

"Well, to start with, the original leader of the X Force is a demon who lacks his body. His name is Dirken and he comes from the dimension of seven stones, also known as the Z world," Rei began quietly. "It was his coming here that threw the entire prophecy of the Orbs out of balance when he inadvertently saved Jon's life for his own purposes. However, it was also through this that Jon's promise may come to pass after all, because it wouldn't have if Dirken hadn't come here in the first place."  
"She's referring to the prophecy of the Orbs at the end of the legend saying that if one of evil mind gets a hold on the Orbs, this world belong to him," I put in. 

"Yes," Rei nodded. "Now, Jon lost the majority of his memories through Dirken's destruction, but he claims that Trowa here helped revive them. I'm not quite certain what that means, though." 

"I recognized him from Jem's description of her brother," Trowa put in. "I knew he would not have taken rank in the X Force's military purposefully, so I showed him a copy of the tape that Duo sent me of her, Quatre, and himself plotting the prank on Heero. It knocked the memories back into him."  
"Plus made an interesting view of the pilot who shot my hand at Nara," Jon laughed. Heero gave him a Death Glare to end all Death Glares, piping him down in an instant.

"Yes, well, Jon made plans with Trowa to receive Duo and Heero as members of the X Force to allow their escape," Rei said. "But I'm not sure where it went wrong."  
"I do," Jon said with a sigh. "I didn't expect the first Orb to react to Jem at such a great distance. I also did not anticipate having to leave the first behind."  
"So, we're really in a fix now," Duo concluded glumly.

"Actually, if we can get Jem into a state of perfect righteousness, then she can easily summon the other Orb to her and it will be her choice alone as to what happens to this world and myself," Rei stated finitely. "But there are several things we must attend to in order for her to reach that state. And I cannot tell you what they are, Jem. You must discover them for yourself."

"This is going to be a nightmare," Jon moaned into his hand. "She has a million things she's afraid of!"

"Jonathon," I sang out sweetly. "Do you wanna die?"

"No, no, that's okay, that's really all right," he shook his hands quickly.   
"Good." 

***

Great. Just perfect. I groaned aloud as I walked down the beach once again. I had barely managed to escape the room alive during the discussion of different tactics of making me unafraid of various things. Do you know just how embarrassing it is to have each and every one of your fears played out before you, image after image and time after time? Not only was it making me red in the face from embarrassment, but it was also totally annoying to have Duo ask again and again if I was afraid of this or that.

"Why me?" I moaned. Walking aimlessly, I ended up at the pile of rocks that Heero and I had met on when we'd both slipped away from my little congrats party. I had changed out of the tight black jeans into normal ones and into a white T-shirt, keeping the jacket for warmth more than anything.  
"Okay," I sighed quietly. "What am I afraid of? The dark, I know that. The deep, I know that. Heights. Too many things. And what about that promise Jon made to me?" What was the promise? He'd said a lot of things to me, including calling me a beautiful angel, fulfilling one of my great dreams. Was that it? To be called an angel in the best of times instead of the worst? But how could something so simple be the key that unlocked my righteousness?

A small sigh escaped my lips as I sank onto the same rock and stared into the oblivion that I loved so much. But I knew I loved something else more. I'd come to love my four trainers and even Trowa, who was away most of the time, as more than just my comrades.

And I loved Duo and Heero more than even just friends. Duo because he could make me laugh when everything else around me crumbled into oblivion and Heero...I loved him because he made me feel safe. Even now, when danger lurked only nanometers away, I felt as if he could protect me.

And I knew that my brother and my brothers-at-heart loved me. The simple knowledge that they cared enough to help me through this, though however annoying it may be, was enough. That's all that mattered to me, was their safety. Perhaps I could make a pact with that demon...maybe I could...

But no. Dirken wouldn't listen. He didn't understand the meaning of the word "brother" or "friend" and he certainly would double-cross me if I ever tried to barter with him. Going to the demon would only risk their lives more rather than guarantee their safety.

***

Heero walked aimlessly through the woods. He, too, was contemplating the words Rei had spoken of. What did she mean by Jonathon's promise? Was there something in Jem's past that needed to be healed? She had often said that she faced her fears head-on when she could. Was it something even she couldn't realize?

"How do you help someone achieve what they themselves don't realize they need?" he asked himself aloud. Then he wondered in silence why he'd reacted like that in the cell, when Jem had been so hard on herself.

"Hey, Heero. You too, huh?" asked the voice he knew too well. The other brown-haired boy grinned lankily at the Perfect Soldier. "She's something else, isn't she?"

"Whom?"

"Jem." 

Heero remained silent.

"You love her," Duo stated calmly. "I can see it."  
Silence.

"I love her too," Duo spoke again quietly. "There's something about her, something angelic. Heh, that's probably why her brother called her that as his last words to her."  
"What?" 

Nothing stopped the Perfect Soldier from speaking. 

"Those were his last words to her," Duo repeated. "She told me that, when I was bring her here. 'I will see you in heaven, you beautiful angel, you.' Kinda funny, seeming how he always tried to call her Phoenix, ya know." 

"Perhaps if we can ask her the meaning of this, we could find her brother's promise," Heero said, his monotone fully there.

"Darn it all, Heero!" Duo shouted suddenly, advancing on the Perfect Soldier with the full knowledge that he did not have his shotgun with him. 

"W-What?" Heero stuttered, for almost the first time in his life. For the first time since he had "killed" Mariemeia Barton.

Duo began to sob uncontrollably, surprising Heero. The happy-go-lucky boy almost never cried. 

"Heero, you love her, I can see it in your eyes," Duo cried softly, grinning disdainfully at the Perfect Soldier. "I can make her laugh, Heero. But only you can make her happy. Go make her happy, Heero. Just like you made Releena happy."

Heero stopped short and turned toward the other boy. He suddenly found himself flat against a tree.

"Go tell her, Yuy," Duo growled loudly, throwing Heero against the tree again with all the formerly-braided-boy's strength. "Or you're gonna lose her, too." Duo released him and stood back, watching the shocked expression on Heero's face diminish into determination. Both boys turned and walked away, Duo toward Quatre's mansion, Heero toward the rocks.   
"Duo?" Heero called almost inaudibly toward the chocolate-haired boy. Duo stopped and looked back to regard the umber-haired boy. "Thanks."  
"That's a first, Heero," Duo smirked back at him. "Now give her the second." He stalked off once again, never giving another glance back toward Heero as the other boy made his steady way toward the girl he loved. 

"Make her happy, Heero," Duo mumbled under his breath. "Set the phoenix free again." 

*** 

Staring out at the stars, I closed my eyes and let the wind take my hair into flight and let the waves serenade me. The tiny red, blue, and yellow suns of distant planets were positively stunning tonight. Time seemed to stop just for me to let me see each and every star in its own, remarkable beauty tonight.

A twig snapped and I stood up abruptly at the sound, pointing Heero's gun at whatever it was before it could approach any more. The barrel lowered slowly as I realized it was Heero.

"Hey," he called.

My eyes widened in shock (AN-She seems to do that a lot, huh?). Was this some trick? Some twisted joke Maxwell or Wufei came up with? Heero Yuy, Perfect Soldier,_ never_ said "hey".

"Hay's for horses, what do you want?" I snarled at him, surprised at my own fury toward his interruption. Why was I mad at him? The gun was still trained on him, even though it had loosened quite a bit since I'd first pointed it at him.

"To talk," he answered, walking nimbly toward me despite the gun. What was going on? Heero never wanted to talk.   
"I don't want to talk about the stupid prophecy," I growled, pocketing the gun again. I sat back down on the rock roughly, my tailbone smashing into it. I winced in the dull pain from the earlier ones into the neo-titanium.

"I did not wish to."

"So what'd you come out here for?" I asked as he reached my side and sat down as well, closer than should have been comfortable.

"No reason in particular." 

He did not speak again for a long time, so I continued my stargazing.

"Beautiful, aren't they? The stars, I mean."   
"Yes. They remind me that I am not alone."

"Jon and I used to make pictures with the constellations as guides," I noted with a remembering smile. 

"You draw?"

"Not very good," I blushed. Why was I blushing? It wasn't as if I was lying or anything. "But sometimes I could come up with something decent."   
"I find that hard to believe."   
"What?"

"Nothing," he gave a small sigh.

Silence prevailed.

"I'm sorry," I apologized suddenly.

"About?"

"The mission. It was my fault we failed. If I hadn't have gone, you guys would still be there."   
"It was not your fault," Heero countered gently. "You were being human."

"And what would you know about being human, Perfect Soldier?" I asked, annoyed he'd brought my own words up against me.

"I guess it's because I'm not a Perfect Soldier after all," he smiled.

I stopped short, gawking at him. He was _smiling_. Not just a nanometer smirk. Not just the faintest hint of a smile. But a true, genuine, wide smile. The boy was smiling. He stopped about three seconds into it and turned to look back at the stars. But he continued speaking, and it was not a monotone. It sounded...grateful. There was no other word to describe it.

"You've taught me something, Jem," his words conveying true emotion. No monotone, no forced areas anywhere. Just a normal boy admitting he was wrong to a normal girl. Confessing something deep inside.

"And what could I have taught a Perfect Soldier?" I asked. "I thought you knew everything."  
"No. Far from it, Jem. You've taught me that there is something more to my life than the mission. There is also brotherhood, peace, friendship, and...and love." He looked directly at me, into my green eyes and stared. Not an angry glare or an indifferent stare, but a loving, caring gaze that only a friend could give. Or something more...

What was he trying to say, though? That I was a good teacher of life? Was there more to what he was saying or was I stretching it far out of proportion?

"Why are you saying all of this, Heero?" I asked. "There must be a reason. You never talk this much without reason." 

"Because...because..." he suddenly seemed at a major loss of words. I hoped beyond hope that they were the words I longed to hear from one person. I had silently begged those three words to move past his lips ever since he'd placed his gun between my eyes.

"Because why, Heero?" I prompted him.

He took a deep, steadying breath...

***

I wish I could be evil and leave it right there, but I can't bear to leave it any more than you can wait to find out. 


	12. Final Battle

Well, here it is, the climax of the story. I'll have an epilogue after this, but this is the final battle in the entire thing. Maybe you want a sequel? Maybe? Huh? Ask. Maybe I will. It's possible. Quite possible. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.

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Orbs of Emerald

Chapter 12: Final Battle

***

Come on, come on, my brain can't take this much waiting, Yuy! My mind seemed to scream in anticipation and if it had not been for my training, I would be bouncing up and down right now. Was he milking this for all it was worth or was he waiting for me to explode in anticipation or was my imagination dragging this out far beyond its intended course?

Was there a rhyme and reason behind his delay in words, or was there something else? In that moment, every last one of my fears disappeared, with the exception of one. My fear of the dark vanished. The deep might as well had been a tide pool. Heights might as well have been two nanometers off the ground, I did not care about them as long as I heard those words from Heero's mouth. 

"Jem, I want you to promise me that you won't hate me when I say this," Heero seemed to beg, but his voice held only a soft, hoping quality.

"Hate you?" I cried. "Heero, I would never hate you, not even if you said the worst thing in the world to me. And that's a fact." I smiled, and for once, he returned it.

"All right," he sighed, then sucked in another breath, releasing it so achingly slowly, I thought I really would start bouncing. "Jeminie Renai Kinde...I...I have no other way to say this...I...I love you."   
My whole world began to spin. Heero loved me? Heero loved _me_?! This was a dream come true! Somebody pinch me! This had to be a dream, there was no other way! (AN-OW! Not really pinch me!) Instead of staring at him, shocked beyond belief and comprehension, I threw my arms around his shoulders like I had in the cell at the X Force's base and buried my face into his right shoulder.

"Jem?" he seemed to be panicking. "Jem, are you okay?"  
"Of course I'm okay," I cried happily as I came back up. "I'm more than okay, Heero! I love you too, I really do. Heero, that's the best thing anyone has ever said to me! I'm honored."

"How can you be honored, I'm the one who's honored!" Heero shouted, standing up. "To know that a beautiful angel loves me, a Perfect Soldier, it is-" I smothered his words with my hand as I stood to join him. 

"Heero, did you just call me an angel?" I asked softly, tears forming in my eyes. He nodded, dumbfounded by my tears. 

"I will always love you, the Keeper of my Heart, the Angel of my Soul, and the Phoenix of my Spirit," Heero whispered to me, wiping a tear from my cheek. I broke down in joyful sobs and hugged his neck tighter, and, for the first time, he pulled his own arms around me and held me close to him. 

And, for once in my entire life, I felt no fear and no regret. When I opened my eyes, it was not by choice. A bright emerald light was shining where my heart was. My eyes widened.

"The Orb!" I shouted in shock. "It's glowing!"  
"Of course, the promise was fulfilled," Heero said to himself. He grabbed my hand and raced toward the mansion again, leaping over every obstacle as I raced to keep up. 

"Guys!" I shouted as soon as I entered the house. "The Orb, it's glowing!"

"So glad you could make it, Jeminie," laughed Dirken in the center of the room. Behind him were all of our friends, tied together with some sort of black, glowing cable.   
Heero leaped out in front of me and held his arms to his side. 

"The party has only just begun," Dirken cackled, throwing Rei before him and holding the other Orb in his hand. "Return to me, Orb of the Keeper, for I am your new Master!" The glowing green in my chest suddenly escalated to a blinding white. For some reason, I could still watch as the Orb, in the shape of a small bird, exited my chest and landed squarely in Dirken's hand.   
"Yes...yes...yes!!!" Dirken screamed, laughing as though the world were his to control. Unfortunately, that's exactly what was happening. "In your face, Angel! Finally, you shall become mine and no longer will you control the Dragonballs. In fact, you won't even need them! You won't be able to decide what to do with them yourselves. You wanna know why? I MAKE THE RULES! HA!" Dirken made a little dance right there in Quatre's living room. (AN-Think the Guinea Pig on Doctor Doolittle. Doin' a little dance...makin' a little love...get down t'night...Can we say "sweatdrop central"?)

"Oo-kay," I droned in mock surprise. "That's something you don't see every day."

"Hey!" Dirken shouted. "This is my world now! You two, bow before me." My limbs were not my own to control. My arms and legs felt as heavy as lead as a red light surrounded them and another punched me in the stomach to make me more keel over before him instead of kneel. But it was all the same to this poor guy.

"First things first, Orbs," he snarled at the two gems. "I want my body back!" The purple-haired guy was thrown roughly to the side and he backed away from the demon's entity as fast and furiously as he could, kicking out with his legs, unable to stand properly. Only when he reached the door did he scramble to his feet and rush out into the night.

"No matter," Dirken said as a faint outline of a body appeared before him, the Orbs floating in the air. "I will get him soon enough."  
"There's gotta be something we can do, Heero," I whispered fiercely to him. He had only confessed he loved me that night, we couldn't let this happen now!"

"I can't move," Heero said, struggling against the red light. "If we could get to the Orbs...he doesn't have his body back yet."  
"Of course!" I shouted upon realization. "I'm the Keeper of the Phoenix Orb, it should still listen to me." I turned back to the Phoenix Orb and called to it. "Come back to me!" I shouted. "Please, come back!" It didn't budge.   
"You have to say a special chant to get it to come to you!" Rei shouted from her binds. 

"Pipe down, all of you!" Dirken roared. However, because he did not hold the Orbs in solid hands, they did not make us be quiet.

"Okay...what chant would I say?" I asked myself. "I'm Jeminie Renai Kinde, my blood has been the finest from my mother's side, there's got to be a way!"

**FLASH**

"I will always love you, the Keeper of my Heart, the Angel of my Soul, and the Phoenix of my Spirit."

**FLASH**  
"That's it!" I cried out. "Keeper of my Heart, Angel of my Soul, Phoenix-AH!" Dirken's body had reclaimed his soul and he stood before me. Each Orb sat in one of his claws, his pink skin covered by tattered clothes. He kicked my side in with his clawed foot.  
"I'm going to kill you while I've got the chance," he growled angrily.   
"NO!" Heero shouted from his bindings on the floor. "You won't touch her!"  
"Won't I?" Dirken asked innocently, and none-too-convincingly, either.

"She is the Keeper of my Heart!" Heero shouted to Dirken.   
"Keeper of my Heart," I whispered in repeat.

"Angel of my Soul!" 

"Angel of my Soul."   
"Phoenix of my Spirit!"

"Phoenix of my Spirit."  
"And the Jem of my LIFE!"  
"The Jem of my Life."   
A sudden bright light enveloped the Phoenix Orb, and Dirken dropped it as though it had burned him. The demon held up his hand, and revealed white bone and little scorched remains of muscle and skin.

"AH! _Curses_, curse you, **_ANGEL_**!" he yelled loudly, then screamed again as the other Orb fell from his hand. He held it up and all saw that the other claw had been scorched and picked bone-clean as the other had been. He screamed again as his entire body dissolved into a fine white dust made up of his bones and bits of melted muscle.

The two Orbs surrounded me, but I felt no freedom to move as they spun around me, faster and faster, never stopping, never slowing, always going as fast and as frenzied as they could, to the point that the emerald vortex swallowed me up inside of itself. Everything went white, instead of black as it usually did as I fainted.

All sounds stopped. All people vanished from view. I stood in a black white space, the two Orbs in my hands, the Phoenix Orb in my right hand and the Oval Orb in my left. I looked all around and my eyes finally rested upon a single person.   
"Rei!" I cried in surprise. "What's going on? What happened? Where is everybody? Where am I?"

She chuckled merrily and it was then that I noticed she now had flowing azure robes that flowed over her thin, young figure. She smiled at me and nodded toward a small platform that had suddenly appeared in the center of the void.   
"Welcome to the Dimensional Gates, Jem," she said quietly. "And to your ordeal."  
"My ordeal?" I asked. "What's going on? Why are we at the Dimensional Gates, and, for that matter, where _are_ the Gates?"  
"The Gates are not physical gates, Jem," she explained quietly. "Set the Orbs in this pedestal. You will be able to make your decision from there. Your ordeal is simple. You are a goddess now, regardless, but you can make the decision to make other people gods as well and you will decide the fate and destiny of this world. You must also make a prophecy of your own so that you will have a successor."

"A-A goddess?" I stammered. "Me? Why?"  
"Because you took the steps and you took the right and you took the promise to become who you are right now. You became fully righteous."  
"So I can basically do anything I want?" I asked as I placed the Orbs on the pedestal.

"I wouldn't suggest it, but yes," she smiled. "This whole world is yours to rule."  
"I don't wanna rule it," I shook my head. "These people can rule for themselves. However, I was to eradicate the need for war in all people."  
"It is done," Rei nodded. "What about the Gates?"  
"I want to open them," Jem said quietly. "To all those who wish not for war."  
"It is done. Who do you wish to rule beside you?"

I thought long and hard before answering. "Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Wufei Chang, Trowa Barton, Quatre Winner, Jonathon Douglous Kinde, Lieutenant Nakami, and yourself."

"Very wise," Rei smiled and bowed. "Now the prophecy."  
"I hereby prophecy that only that person who uses their life for the good of all and is fully righteous in my eyes shall take up these Orbs and become the Phoenix of the Gundam Dimension," I stated. 

"It is done," Rei smiled. "Anything else?"

"How do we get outta here?" I asked sheepishly. 

"If it is your will, it is your way," Rei answered. 

With that, we were back in the living room.

***

WOWI've actually completed my first fic! I can't believe it! *Jumping up and down and up and down repeatedly* I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea!!!!!!!! Okay, ya know, I was actually jumping up and down in here. My parents came in here and asked if I was feeling okay. O-O; I'd better cool my jets. Move on to the epilogue!


	13. Epilogue

*sniff...sniff...* I can't believe it's actually over! Well...read it for me and tell me what you think. Jeminie Yuy here, signing off completely at the beginning of the Epilogue.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, or the tiny traces of Yu Yu Hakusho and Ranma 1/2.

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Orbs of Emerald

Epilogue: A Kiss of Orbs

***

"So, that's it?" I asked Rei as we stood there in the living room, looking at the others as they listened to Rei's explanation. Basically explaining all she had told me already. 

"Yes," Rei smiled. "That's it, Jem. You've done well."  
"I couldn't have done it without Heero," I smiled at him. My clothes had changed into the same flowing robes that Rei wore, only in a beautiful pastel green. 

"Of course not," Rei chuckled. "He was Jon's promise."  
"**_WHAT?!_**" shouted the entire room.

"The last words Jon said to me," I said, narrowing my eyes in concentration. 

"I will see you in heaven, you beautiful angel, you," Jonathon repeated for me.

"The promise was hidden within his final words," Rei explained. "You see, love is often defined as heaven and the girl of the couple is called the angel. Jon wasn't telling you he'd see you in the afterlife-"  
"He was telling me that I'd meet my knight!" I shouted in realization.  
"Bingo! Bingo! You win the prize!" cried a sprightly voice.   
"Botan, what are you doing here?" Rei asked, scowling at a cerulean-haired girl who had entered the room. 

"Your new guardian opened the Gates, if you can't recall," the girl answered. "And I just wanted to come and meet the new Grim Reaper for this dimension."  
"Who?" I asked.

"Why, Duo Maxwell, of course!" she answered, nearly bouncing off the ceiling in joy. "You see, when you gave your friends access to their godly powers, they were each given a new task. I just wanted to come and see my new partner."

"I'm the _real_ Grim Reaper now?" Duo shouted. "Jem!"

"Sorry, buddy," I shrugged. "I didn't know. So what does this make me?"

"The ruler of the Spirit World, of course," Botan answered. "Your equivalent is King Yama."  
"Uh...can we just be normal people still?" I asked grimly.  
"Yes, you can create replacements for yourselves in the Spirit World, of course, but you are always welcome to visit it," Botan answered. "Anyways, I had better get back. My charge, Yusuke Urameshi, should be coming out of her possession soon enough. Good luck, everybody!" She flew off again and I shook my head.

"I hope she doesn't come back here, she is the worst example of a Grim Reaper if I ever saw one," Rei shook her head in disgust. 

"You said it," Duo groaned. "Do I have to be the Grim Reaper?"  
"No," I answered. "I'll rally a group for the Spirit World." I used my mind and ordered the fates to replace my friends with others in our place. We were free of other worldly duties.

I sighed and sank onto the couch.  
"Guys, remind me from now on not to get mixed up in things I don't understand," I moaned into my hands.   
"It's a done deal, sis," Jon replied, rolling his eyes.

I shrank out of my robes and back into my jeans, T-shirt, and jacket.   
"I'm going for a walk," I said. "I need to think." I was gone in a flash.  
"Aren't you going after her, Heero?" Jon and Duo asked in unison. They exchanged strange looks, but did nothing more.   
Heero left without another word.

The woods embraced us both, as I knew I was being followed by Heero, but I ran. He picked up his pace and raced after me. It became a game more than anything and when he finally caught me, we were both laughing in exhaustion.   
"Jem?" Heero asked, holding my shoulders in his grasp so I wouldn't "escape".

"Yeah, Heero?"

"Why me?"

I smiled at him and hugged his neck. I whispered my reply.  
"Fate wasn't mine to decide until now, Heero. I love you because you're my other half. You're the Keeper of _my_ Heart."

He smiled. Then did the one thing I would never had expected.

He kissed me. Pressing my lips against his softly, he simply held me, neither deepening nor ending the precious kiss that held only the love he held. Time seemed to stop around us as he finally released me.

"I don't care what anyone says," he whispered quietly. "It's your Orbs of Emerald that rule me now."  
"Is that so?" I asked jokingly. "Then perhaps I should say the same about your eyes, but there is one problem." 

"And what's that?"

"Your face almost never reflects your eyes," I grinned. "Smile for me, a true smile with your eyes and you countenance."  
He smiled, the windows to his soul lighting up and his face along with it.  
"Now there is the true perfection of my Orbs of Azure," I said quietly.

"I wonder what the others are doing now?" he murmured as he held me closer, burying his face into my hair.

"I know what Rei and Jonathon are doing," I chuckled lightly. "Almost exactly what we are. It seems that Rei gave an indirect order to the fates to give her a soul mate too. I guess my brother was the perfect candidate." 

"If he's anything like you, he is perfect." 

His lips pressed to mine once again, this time a passionate, love-filled one that I will never forget.

***

And so it was. Dirken was defeated, forever, never to be seen again. Jem and Heero were together as one, two separate entities becoming one as the Orbs themselves had become. And it seemed that Rei and Jon had their own little love beginning to blossom as well.

The boys who had once piloted machines of death had once again made peace for all. Although there had been thousands of casualties, there was now an ultimate peace that would reign until the Orbs found a new Master. 

Then, who knows. Perhaps the righteous leader whom Jem prophesized shall come along and have the same peace of mind as the Orbs' first and second Guardians, but should there come a time where peace has become scarce, you can know that Jeminie Renai Kinde will be on the case. 

And, with the fate of the world decided, this story has now become complete.


End file.
